The sustainable spell check (S): Hey! I’m your sustainable spell check – run on affordable and clean green energy (a, 7) – and I have some ideas for making your exchange semester more sustainable; let’s take a look at your diary!
The diary (D): Dear diary, I’m so exited for my exchange semester in Bristol, it’s gonna be fun living in a different city and learning new stuff. I’m gonna go by plane in the beginning of September and spent the first two weeks of September traveling with my girlfriend before the semester starts.
S: Hold on a second! I love your excitement, but are you sure plane is the way to go? It’s not far from Copenhagen, you could totally go by train – it’s gonna be fun, especially when you have your girlfriend to keep you company! (a, 12).
D: I don’t know if I will be able to carry everything I need during the journey, but I can just buy some new stuff if I need it.
S: Oh you will be just fine! It’s must better for the environment if you use what you have instead of buying new stuff (a, 12).
D: My girlfriend is going to spent a semester in Newcastle, it’s far from Bristol, but I think it’s easy to go by plane to visit. I’m gonna miss her like crazy, maybe I should visit often?
S: Waaait a second! You can travel by train through England to visit your girlfriend – it’s as easy as that to reduce your carbon footprint. You could try calculating your footprint using the danish site Ren Sti (b).
D: I should also really make an effort to get to know people in Bristol, maybe I should engage in some social activities at the UNI. I hope I’ll get involved in activities centered around sustainability or activism.
S: That sound epic! It’s always a great idea to engage with like-minded people; together we can make changes! (a, 11).
D: I’m gonna do some exiting courses about decolonisation, gender, Sappho and ancient ecopoetics. They’re all centered around critical perspectives on earlier or current societies.
S: It sounds like you have some great courses planned! It’s important to learn about decolonisation and gender inequalities in order to take a step towards equal rights for everyone (a, 5,10). Learning about ancient ecopoetics is also gonna give you important perspectives on nature and encourage you to see nature as part of us; and vice vera (a, 15).
D: It’s all gonna be very exiting, I hope everything works out nicely. I’m gonna keep you updated.
S: I think you’re ready to have a fun, giving and sustainable aware stay in Bristol, let me know if you need help; I’m here for you anytime.
References:
a. The UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://sdgs.un.org/goals
(the numbers refer to the different goals
b. https://rensti.dk/index.html
