I began my year abroad as a student studying Global Sustainable Development.
Halfway through, I realised something uncomfortable.
While learning how to protect the planet, I flew over 15,000 kilometres away from home. That journey produced several tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than many people emit in an entire year. It feels like a contradiction. How can I advocate for sustainability while taking one of the most carbon-intensive journeys possible?
But perhaps this is exactly what sustainability looks like in reality.
The transition to net zero is rarely about perfect choices. It is about recognising trade-offs, being honest about them, and taking responsibility for the consequences.
And completing my year abroad in Australia made that impossible to ignore. Seeing coral bleaching with my own eyes and having bushfire warning alerts light up my phone brought the realities of climate change far closer than any lecture ever could. Australia is one of the countries experiencing the impacts of climate change most visibly. Yet its geographic isolation also means aviation remains essential for education, collaboration and research. Sustainability is not black and white; it exists in these difficult grey areas.
Rather than pretending my placement was carbon-neutral, I focused on making every part of it as sustainable as possible. By spending a full year in Australia, I reduced the need for repeated long-haul flights. Once I arrived, Melbourne’s trams became my primary mode of transport, most of my wardrobe came from local thrift stores in Fritzory, and I chose locally produced food whenever possible. The biggest surprise was that these weren’t exceptional efforts; they were the norm. Living in Melbourne showed me that sustainable choices become much easier when the systems around you are designed to support them.
Small actions alone will not cancel out my flight, but they reflect a commitment to reducing my impact wherever I can.
And to quote the most important part of my degree, these choices also align with the UN SDGs. SDG 13 reminds us that climate responsibility begins with acknowledging our own emissions. SDG 12 shapes the way I intend to live while abroad, and SDG 17 reflects the reason I am travelling in the first place: to learn from another country, exchange ideas, and bring that knowledge home.
I started this year abroad believing sustainability meant always making the lowest-carbon choice.
I finish it knowing it means something harder.
I won’t pretend this journey is sustainable in the strictest sense, because it isn’t.
But I refuse to believe the answer is to stop engaging with the world.
Instead, I choose to travel consciously, remain accountable, and ensure the knowledge I gain creates an impact that lasts far longer than the emissions from the flight.
Because if I’m going to leave a footprint, I want the knowledge I bring home to be greater than the emissions that took me there.
Australian Government (2019) https://www2.gbrmpa.gov.au/.
ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator. https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/environmental-tools/icec.
IPCC (2023) https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/
UN SDGs https://sdgs.un.org/goals.
