Sustainability Resources
Climate Vulnerability
Climate vulnerability is a key consideration for students studying abroad, as it highlights how climate change can impact both them and their host environments. This includes exposure to extreme weather, health risks, and disruptions to infrastructure and academics. Some destinations, like coastal or low-resilience areas, face higher risks. Understanding these factors helps students choose safer, more adaptable study locations and prepare for challenges in a changing climate. Students should be mindful of which climate issues are prevalent in their host countries and prepare for the local community’s sustainability standards.
Sustainable Habits
- Limit waste and transportation-related carbon emissions.
- Prioritize slow travel. Stay longer in one place to fully experience the local culture and connect with the community instead of rushing through multiple places.
- Buy used or secondhand goods instead of new products.
- Sell or donate items that you no longer need before coming back home. If you’re staying with a host family, ask if they’d like to keep your things for the next student they host.
- Seek out non-exploitative tourism and try to remain local.
- Purchase from local businesses.
- Be mindful of your plastic consumption and local recycling practices.
- Participate in excursions that protect and respect the natural ecosystem.
- Adapt your consumption rates to your host country’s standards.
- Be mindful of your water consumption, such as taking shorter showers.
- Minimize the consumption of single-use products.
Sustainability Programs
Featured sustainability-oriented semester abroad programs:
- Climate Change: The Politics of Land, Water, and Energy Justice in Ecuador, Morocco, and Nepal
- Decolonizing the Mind: Racial and Environmental Justice in Namibia and South Africa
- Endangered Species Conservation in Kenya and Rwanda
- Environmental Justice and Mekong Ecologies in Cambodia
- Environmental Studies and Sustainability in Germany
- Heritage, Cultural Fusion, and Sustainability in Trinidad and Tobago
- Himalayan Environment and Society in Transition in Bhutan
- Sustainability and Environmental Action in Australia
- Tropical Ecology, Marine Ecosystems, and Biodiversity Conservation in Panama and Costa Rica
- Wildlife Conservation and Political Ecology in Tanzania
Program offerings and details may change. Use our program search tool for the full and most current list.
