I am training to put things into the sky, I am a second – year Aerospace Engineering with Space Technology student at the University of Hertfordshire, and where I build UAV, test Mars rover prototypes, and spend my evenings with our Rocketry And UH Aerospace society. Flight is my subject and my favourite thing in the world. Which is exactly why, this August, I am choosing not to fly.
I will travel to South East Technological University, Carlow Ireland, for an Erasmus + blended Intensive Programme, The Space Industry and Education Workshop. Short-haul flights are aviation at its least efficient, the fuel-hungry climb dominates the journey, and London to Dublin is one of Europe’s busiest air corridors. Aviation produces 2.5% of global CO2, and its true warming effect is greater once contrails and nitrogen oxides are counted. I study their engines. I know what comes out of them.
So, I will travel on the surface, train from Hertfordshire to Holyhead, ferry across the Irish Sea, Coach to Carlow. It is slower than flying, but that is the point. Surface travel on this corridor cuts my carbon footprint by well over half and turns transit into experience, the Welsh Coast from a train window, Dublin Bay from the Deck of a ship. Conscious travel is not a sacrifice, it is a better trip.
This aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 13 (Climate Action): rail and sea over air is my largest emissions decision, in a country where transport is the hardest sector of its climate plan. SDG 12(sustainable Cities): I will pack light, carry a refillable bottle, keep workshop materials digital, and rescue surplus food rather than waste it. SDG 9 (Industry and Innovation) is where my degree meets my conscience, my industry has pledged a Net-Zero aviation by 2050 through sustainable fuels and hydrogen propulsion. I intend to be one of the engineers who makes that real and starting by refusing to treat emissions as someone else’s problem, even on a five- day workshop.
My Commitment is concrete, a flight-free route, walking and using public transport throughout, a paper free travel kit, local surplus- food eating and sharing the results. I will log the journey’s time, cost and estimated emissions and present it to my course mates and UH Rocketry Society, so the Herts student can see the slow road is viable, fun and adventurous.
Five free tools make this easy for any student and me; The man in seat 61 for flight- free route planning, trainline for rail tickets, the TFI live app for Irish public transport, EcoPassenger for Comparing the real emission of rail, road and air, and Too Good to Go for cutting food waste. And for one day I hope to design aircraft that deserve a place in a sustainable world. Until then, I’ve most honest thing a trainee aerospace engineer can do is know when to stay on the ground.
Jupiter — BEng (Hons) Aerospace Engineering with Space Technology, University of Hertfordshire
