Sitting in an airport, watching a plane take off, it’s hard not to think about what it actually costs. Not just money, but carbon, resources, everything behind it. I won’t pretend travelling to Singapore is sustainable. A long-haul flight is probably the highest carbon thing I’ll do all year. Studying Earth Sciences has made that pretty hard to ignore, i spend time learning about climate systems, emissions, resource use… and then I get on a plane. It’s a contradiction. I just have to accept that.
But I don’t think sustainability is about pretending the impact isn’t there. It’s more about what you do once you stop ignoring it.
For me, that started before I even left. I chose a more direct route, and I’ve tried to pack lighter and more intentionally. It doesn’t cancel anything out, that’s not the point. It’s just about not being careless. What matters more is how I act once I’m there.
Singapore actually feels like a real-life example of what we talk about in lectures. Limited natural freshwater, but systems like NEWater that recycle wastewater and turn it back into a usable resource. It’s efficient and almost circular, the kind of thing we’re taught as “ideal”, but rarely see done properly.
So it would feel wrong to be studying that and not paying attention to how I live in it.
I’ll stick to public transport like the MRT instead of taxis, walk where I can, and just be more aware of waste, especially food and single-use plastics. I’ll carry a reusable bottle. Nothing dramatic, just consistent habits most people still don’t really stick to.
These things link directly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), Climate Action (SDG 13), and Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6). But honestly, it’s less about the labels and more about behaviour when no one’s checking
I think the issue with travel is that people treat it like a break from responsibility. Like normal rules don’t apply. I don’t really see it that way. If anything, being somewhere new should make you more aware, not less.
I’ll be studying a course on climate change and sustainability across society, the economy and the environment while I’m there, which just makes that gap between theory and real life harder to ignore.
It won’t be perfectly sustainable,that’s not realistic. But if I come back thinking differently and actually acting on it, not just in theory, then it’s done what it was supposed to!
