The world is facing a ticking time-bomb amidst a desperate attempt to clear the catastrophic path we currently lead ourselves on. Continuing as we are can only lead to the decimation of civilisation. This may seem a dramatic opening, but there is no sugar-coating the position we find ourselves in. The defeatist perspective that individuals have no match to the elite must be overcome if humanity is to resolve climate change. I agree, my life does not have the impact on climate like Taylor Swift’s travel habits or Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce empire. Yet together our small habits amass to something huge, enough to sway the tide to success or failure. Achieving the UN’s SDGs are crucial in combatting climate change. Having presented an answer to what challenges Nigeria face in achieving the SDGs, I am already very familiar with the topic. The UN finds that natural disasters attributed to climate change have increased by a factor of 5 over the last 50 years, causing over 2 million deaths and $3.64 trillion in losses. If this is our past, then our future can only be more devastating should we fail to act responsibly. Developing nations are not the only ones to suffer. Austria (where I will be studying) has experienced more than twice the global average of rise in temperature. Extreme weather events causing both human and monetary loss are becoming more frequent. Austria, therefore, has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2040, 10 years ahead of the EUs schedule as well as in conjunction of SDG 13. One initiative that will help achieve this is Austria’s 2030 mobility master plan. This can be reduced to cutting unnecessary journeys, shifting modes of transportation, and improving public transport, as well as making it greener. This also aligns with SDG 11. I cannot currently renovate transport services; however, I can contribute to the rest of the initiative. I pledge not to make unnecessary journeys. When I must travel, I will take advantage of the expansion of shaded walkways and cycle paths replacing parking lanes. This will be the focus of my attention, embracing the culture of a country where 40% cycle weekly, further enriching my experience. I will substitute private transportation for public. The https://www.klimaticket.at/en/home/ , including all public transport for a year will be a great incentive https://www.rome2rio.com . also provides how much emissions train/bus journeys produce, which I will use to choose the greenest option. For journeys that must be made by plane, https://www.google.com/travel/flights?gl=GB&hl=en-GB provides similar data. Subsequently, I aim not to take any private transportation during my semester, and I will always strive to choose the greenest option using the resources above. With this in mind, I will follow the above initiative and travel during off peak to balance demand on these services. Using https://shop.climeco.com/individual/ will allow me to offset the emissions I do contribute through their range of restoration projects. On the occasion I travel beyond my university, I will use https://sustainabletravel.org/humi/ to calculate emissions from an itinerary.
