Dear Emma,
I’m so grateful for your letter, where you ask me to help you with your sustainability school project!
I feel very honored to guide you in the discovery of the eco-friendly world. It’s not easy to be part of the change, but it’s important to try. For example, I’m going to study abroad in the UK for a while: the easiest way to achieve comfort during that time would be not to care for the environment; however, I want to make a change and hopefully inspire others too.
But how exactly am I going to do so? Well, let me tell you my ideas, so that you can educate yourself…
The first issue is that, to cover most of the distance, I’ll have to travel by airplane. This is really bad for our planet, because planes release into the atmosphere greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. I can’t solve this, but I can organise the rest of my travel so that it’s less problematic: in fact, I’m going to take the coach from the airport to the university, since using the bus is definitely better.
Now, what about the trips I want to take in my free time there? Thankfully, I’ve found many ways to reduce the air pollution I would cause: I’ll walk by foot as many times as possible and for longer distances I will either take the train or try out the car-sharing service.
And I’ll be very proud of my effort, because I’ll contribute to the achievement of Goal 11 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which are a great “to-do list” if you want to improve!
Then, there are many smaller things to work on: for instance, the food.
It may seem silly, but keep in mind that many of the Goals mentioned above are about this (like Goal 12). I chose to have a catered accommodation: that will help me save money and most importantly not waste any food. And, for when I’m going to be on a trip, I have downloaded the “Too Good To Go” app that allows me to get delicious food that otherwise would be thrown away.
Lastly, adopting a sustainable lifestyle means allowing others to do the same and I think that should be our number one priority: equality.
Something that really annoys me is how many women are treated badly just because they aren’t men! Goal 5 gave me the strength to decide to work against this injustice. I haven’t found a way yet, but I’d like to join some sort of debate group in order to keep myself informed: here at home there isn’t anything like that, but I’m going to a big city where I’m sure there is and I want to take advantage of that.
Best of luck with your school project!
Love you,
Your cousin Arianna
P.S. You can explore the sustainability topic deeper here:
– https://sdgs.un.org/goals
– https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint
– https://co2.myclimate.org/en/calculate_emissions
