Monday 21-02-2022 - 13:21

by: Lydia Irving

Swansea Sustainable Travel INPSIRE Intern 2022

My name is Lydia Irving, and I am a second year Graphic Design student at University of Wales Trinity St David. As a designer, I am extremely passionate about designing the world I want to live in and want to make a positive impact on the world by advocating the right things. This is also my passion as a person in day-to-day life. Being kind to the world we live in by considering sustainability in everything we do is something I see as our responsibility as human beings. Therefore, I decided to join UWTSD’s Institute of Sustainable Practice, Innovation, and Resource Effectiveness (INSPIRE) internship programme, to make a real impact to sustainability across the University and Swansea. INSPIRE is a programme that aims to embed sustainability at the core of the University’s framework, aligning with The Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

My role as sustainable travel intern is to promote greener ways of travelling in Swansea. This involves thinking of different ways of getting students, staff and locals to reduce their carbon footprint by the ways they get around day-to-day, and opening eyes to how beneficial more active travel is for physical and mental health as well as for the world. I hope to plan and set up exciting events and campaigns that instil more active ways of travel as a habit across the University and Swansea.

In Wales, transport accounts for approximately 14% of carbon emissions, making it Wales’ third largest carbon emission source. Approximately 99% of these transport emissions are carbon dioxide, so from this we can see the desperate need for change in this sector by promoting more sustainable ways of travel such as cycling, walking and using public transport. I am excited to explore the possibility of making a real impact to how people travel in Swansea, and in turn, hopefully lowering the emissions produced from the transport sector, that are contributing so much to global warming.

So, I am launching an incredible new campaign to tackle reducing your carbon footprint. This campaign is our creation of the ‘UWTSD Cut the CARbon’ group on Strava, an activity-tracking app. This is to get you to make walking more of a habit in your life. Tracking our walking on Strava is something that really kicked off during the pandemic, as people started to realise just how important getting out for a walk is, not only for the benefit of their physical health but particularly for their mental health, too. All whilst reducing your carbon footprint! All you need do is simply track your walking on Strava whenever you’re out and about and be thrilled by the competitive element, as we will announce the most active winner every month. The social aspect of Strava will allow you to post pictures and caption your walks if you like, to which other students can give kudos. Seeing posts of other students out for their walks will really motivate you to get off that sofa. Our monthly winner will receive a sustainability champion of the month certificate, accredited by the University. This is something that would look great on your CV. Allow Cut the CARbon to make walking a simple habit in your everyday life, so we can improve our own health as well as the Earth’s.

Sign up to the Strava here!