Weeks ago, I gave in yet again. I panted as I tackled Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong’s highest peak. With hiking it’s always the same agony that makes me want to steer clear; calves screaming and lungs burning. However, the magnificent scenery; changing from silvery waterfalls to herds of cows to picturesque views, is irresistible. I always come back.
Midway through, a young Cantonese boy stopped in front of me heaving. He then looked up to me with his round cheeks flushed crimson “仲有幾耐?” (How much longer?) he asked.
I am a Nigerian with little Canto-conversancy. Chuckling, I replied in my quarter-baked Cantonese, “我都唔知，我同你行緊同” (I don’t know either, I am on the same path as you.) He grimaced and trudged along. How funny it was that I was extremely proud to not know the answer.
In that moment I realised that travel is simply sharing the same path as strangers, we are all travellers on the hiking trail that is our planet Earth. Sustainability is consideration; the decision to preserve the splendour of the trail for the boy behind me, for everyone yet to come. This experience built my sustainability ‘mindset’.
But I was no stranger to sustainability, I already had my ‘why’. Three years ago, in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria, I accompanied Dad (a judge) to court. I saw prisoners who appeared severely malnourished, on the ride home Dad explained that some were wrongly incarcerated and couldn’t afford lawyers. I felt challenged to act, my siblings and I birthed the Hope-Alive Conservancy Charity, our motto: Save Flora, Fauna and Folk! For seed money, I broke my childhood piggybank, and we sold cupcakes to neighbours. We donated funds to the prisons, and we farmed on Dad’s land to provide organic food.
This summer I have begun to explore my ‘how’. How can I preserve Earth? I have spent summer doing supervised research to convert plastic waste into aviation-fuel-range hydrocarbons; this offers 18% lower carbon footprint than fossil jet fuel. It supports UN SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). At Aberdeen, I hope to continue studying and get a different perspective to apply in my research. Aviation contributes 2% of global CO₂ emissions. Soon through my successful research each passenger, travelling for study abroad, tourism e.t.c, can fly knowing the journey is green.
Action starts individually. I’ll offset my Hong Kong to UK flight (over 400 kg CO₂) using onboard:earth, a UK charity app that supports green projects and calculates emissions. I’ll join the University of Aberdeen Conservation Society and participate in beach cleans and tree planting. I’ll use AWorld as a daily sustainable action tracker and I’ll travel by train where possible (rail emits merely 15% of aviation’s carbon.)
Earth is our hiking trail; let’s hike with consideration for those to come!
Resources:
• onboard:earth (https://onboard.earth)
• AWorld (https://www.aworld.org)
• UN SDGs (sdgs.un.org)
• Aberdeen University Conservation Society (https://www.ausa.org.uk/organisation/auconservation/)
• Hong Kong Carbon Calculator (www.carboncalculator.gov.hk/en)
