My passport is small enough to fit in my pocket, my visa little more than a stamp on a page. Yet together they will carry me 4,000 miles across the ocean to spend a semester at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. But it also weighs a far bigger question: is the journey worth the environmental cost?
As someone who has already moved from India to the United Kingdom to study Business, I don’t take that question lightly. International travel creates carbon emissions and places pressure on the environments we visit. Before boarding another flight, I believe I have a responsibility to ask not only why I am travelling, but whether I can ensure the experience creates value beyond the impact it leaves behind.
The more I reflected, the more I realised I had been asking myself the wrong question. Rather than asking only how I could reduce the impact of travelling 4,000 miles, I should also be asking how I could maximise the good that comes from it.
To me, sustainability goes beyond travelling less. It is about travelling with intention, caring for the places we visit while building the understanding needed to protect the world we share. That is why the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals resonate with me. They remind us that climate action, responsible consumption, quality education and global partnerships are not separate ambitions but interconnected ones. My semester abroad sits where those ideas meet.
One instance from the recent FIFA World Cup captured this perfectly. Scottish supporters teaching football chants to strangers in the streets of Boston reminded me that when people meet face to face, differences often become conversations rather than divisions. Sustainable solutions begin with that willingness to connect.
That belief has shaped my exchange long before I board the plane. I have planned lower-carbon travel using Trainline and Omio, will continue carrying the reusable bottle and coffee cup I use every day at Bath, and intend to rely on Urbana-Champaign’s bus network, local thrift stores and farmers’ markets rather than defaulting to convenience. Borrowing winter clothing from family in Chicago instead of buying new is another small decision that reflects the same mindset. Illinois’ commitment to restoring prairie ecosystems, protecting freshwater resources and reducing campus waste reminds me that sustainability is built through our everyday choices, not one grand gesture.
When I return, I plan to create an open-access sustainable study abroad guide for future University of Bath exchange students, sharing practical resources, local initiatives and low-impact travel tips so that each future cohort can learn from their alumni
When I place my passport back in the drawer, it may look exactly the same. But I will be different – new experiences, perspectives, knowledge and life-long relationships gained shaping how I move forward in future.
The most sustainable thing we can export is not technology. It is our willingness to learn from one another, and to leave every place a little better than we found it.
