The Thames was declared biologically dead in 1950s.
I think about that every time DLR crosses the water on my way to lectures at the University of East London — that grey ribbon below once held no fish, no life, nothing. Then a city decided, collectively and painfully, to reverse what it had done. Today, seals swim under Tower Bridge. That story of technology, policy, and human will choosing repair over resignation shapes everything I believe about travel:that movement across the world carries moral weight, and that weight must be carried honestly.
Honest travel begins before the departure gate. My transatlantic flight to Tampa produces approximately 1.2 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent , I researched carriers, selected the most direct routing to minimise fuel burn, and have already purchased a verified Gold Standard carbon offset.
In Tampa I will contribute directly to a cleaner environment , not as a weekend activity, but as a central commitment. I will volunteer weekly with Tampa Bay Watch, restoring the seagrass beds and oyster reefs that have lost over half their coverage since the 1950s. These beds sequester carbon up to thirty-five times faster than tropical rainforest / unit area; their restoration is measurable, local climate action. I will commute by HART bus and bicycle only, shop at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park farmers’ market, carry a full reusable kit, and refuse single-use plastic because Florida emits approximately 108 million metric tonnes of CO₂ annually, and every refusal is a small, real act of resistance.
My placement at Tampa Bay Wave, interning with PikMyKid on school safety technology, will teach me that purposeful travel and purposeful work share the same question:what are you actually building, and for whom? That question is why I take sustainability seriously because the systems we build, in code and in conduct, outlast the intentions behind them.
This sits within a framework I genuinely believe in. SDG 13 (Climate Action) is the engine: Florida is one of the world’s most urgent living laboratories for climate adaptation. SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities) is Tampa Bay’s own ongoing project — a city retrofitting itself for resilience in real time. SDG 4 (Quality Education) is the exchange itself; the systems-thinking a Computer Science degree in one country cannot develop alone. SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) is PikMyKid: safety infrastructure built through innovation, proving tech and social good are not opposing forces. SDG 17 (Partnerships) is the commitment I will carry back to UK.
The resources that shaped this preparation — myclimate.org, sdgacademy.org, the HART transit app, Too Good To Go — I will pass on so the next student starts further forward than I did.
The Thames came back. Tampa Bay’s seagrass is beginning, tentatively, to return. This summer, a Data Science and AI student from East London will write safety code by day and restore seagrass beds at the weekend in a city learning that the most important systems we build are the ones that protect what we nearly lost.
I have already started.
