My bag turned 12 today.
Canvas, dark grey, patched at the base, zip a little stubborn. It’s not the prettiest thing I own, but it’s the one I’ve carried the longest. I bought it before high school, and somehow, it’s followed me through every chapter since, including this one in Leeds.
This morning, like most mornings, I zip it up and sling it over one shoulder. There’s a quiet rhythm to it now: phone, bottle, notebook, umbrella.
Outside, the pavement is still damp from last night’s rain. My umbrella came from a community share shelf in the student union. A little bent, but it opens. In Sydney, I would’ve replaced one like this without a second thought. Here, I’ve learned to keep what still works. That’s SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, in the small, unglamorous form of patience.
I use GPSmyCity like a compass, not just to get from A to B, but to notice what’s between them. A shortcut through a park. A mural I hadn’t seen. I could ride the bus. But walking makes me feel more connected, less in a rush to consume space. SDG 11 isn’t only about transit systems. It’s about how we move through the places we live.
Over lunch, I check Too Good To Go. A bakery near the union is giving away unsold sandwiches. I claim one. It’s still warm. Still good. Still needed. That small save is SDG 13 in motion: climate action that fits in a paper bag.
At Leed’s The Refilling Station, I refill my tea tin. It’s dented, familiar, mine. The ritual used to feel inconvenient. Now, it feels like intention in practice, a small ceremony of remembering that waste isn’t inevitable.
Back at the flat, I sort the day’s rubbish. Leeds has its own logic, colour-coded bins, unexpected rules. I still double-check with the Leeds City Council site more often than I’d like to admit. I don’t always get it right. But I try. Because if there is one thing I have learnt it’s that waste doesn’t come from ignorance, it comes from indifference.
I’ve already calculated the return flight to Sydney, over 1.5 tonnes of CO₂. The WWF Footprint Calculator confirmed what I suspected: I can’t undo that with a bamboo toothbrush. But the SDGs don’t ask for perfection. They ask us to be aware, and then to act like it matters.
So I keep doing the small things. I reuse. I walk. I pause before I buy. I learn the systems and try to honour them.
Today, my bag turned 12.
It’s come a long way. And so have I.
So I’ll keep carrying it, and everything I’ve learned, a little further.
Resources:
GPSmyCity: https://www.gpsmycity.com/
Too Good to Go: https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-us
Zero Waste Shops: https://www.zerowasteleeds.org.uk/tips/zero-waste-shops-in-leeds/
Leeds City Council: https://www.leeds.gov.uk/bins-and-recycling/your-bins
WWF Footprint Calculator: https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/
