My parents used to describe a Pakistan that I never got to see. They would tell me about blue rivers, clean cities, and walkable roads without having to step over litter. Growing up in the same small village in Peshawar, Pakistan I inherited a shadow of the place. Environmental degradation wasn’t conceptual to me, I saw it in the smog covering city skylines, rivers run colors they shouldn’t, and litter as long as the road itself. My relationship with sustainability began here, not in a classroom but from watching a place I love become a ghost of itself. That reality planted a belief early that I carried with me through three continents, leave a place cleaner than you found it.
Thirteen years of living in the United States, and opportunities to travel to Saudi Arabia, England, France, Switzerland, and Canada have strengthened that idea. In every place I have visited, I chose to walk or take any form of public transport rather than jumping into a car. I believe this is a better way to experience the city and also directly contributes to the UN SDG 13 goal on Climate Action to cut carbon emission. You notice things on foot that a car will never show you. The city becomes real to you and that’s when you treat it differently.
I have also seen what happens when the world does not take environmental sustainability seriously enough. The record breaking heat defining the summer in England, the glaciers slowly disappearing in Switzerland, and the 2022 floods that put nearly a third of Pakistan underwater hit differently when you have actually been there. You stop seeing climate change as someone else’s problem and begin to realize it is slowly stealing from places that deserved better.
So anytime I have the opportunity to travel, the choices I make feel meaningful. I carry around a reusable water bottle, skip chain restaurants for local markets, and just being conscious of where my money goes, contributing directly to UN SDG 12 on Responsible Consumption, and also reflects a respect for the place I am lucky enough to visit.
This fall I am taking all of this with me to study in London for a semester. It is a city built for the traveler I try to be. With the Underground making car free living effortless, I also intend to walk and cycle everywhere that allows. With four months of time, I want to engage with London as a resident, not a tourist. I want to eat at the local places, shop at family-owned stores, and as always leave the city better than when I arrived. UN SDG 11 mentions building sustainable cities and communities, and the best way for me to contribute is to show up as someone who gives more than they take.
My parents never stopped talking about how Pakistan used to be. I travel so I may have the same stories to tell one day.
https://sdgs.un.org/
