Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Oliver Homa
COMP 105-007
WA #3
October 9, 2017
Brack W. Hale, Alison Vogelaar, and Joshua Long conduct a study which examines the
influence of sustainability on higher education travel programs. Aware that education about
sustainability has become very common on college campuses, the authors seek to discover
whether this initiative has transferred over to travel programs. The authors state that multiple
national and international organizations have developed to support universities and colleges in
their efforts [to educate students about sustainability], however, educational travel programs
have surprisingly received little attention in this regard (Hale et al. 350).
With the amount of students choosing to travel abroad rapidly rising, the authors chose to
do something about this void in research. Specifically, they explain, these preliminary findings
suggest the importance of and need for a systematic program of research examining the complex
relationship between educational travel and sustainability (Hale et al. 350). In order to
accomplish this, a survey of travel leaders and program coordinators was conducted. The
survey received several responses representing mostly institutions of higher education, but also
independent travel programs. Most claimed to have programs such as student clubs or groups
regarding sustainability active at their schools, and all claimed that sustainability was in some
way incorporated into their educational travel programs. The most commonly incorporated
Homa 2
environmental sustainability.
Taking in all of the results from their extensive survey, the authors concluded that while
most respondent institutions have some type of sustainability initiative, fewer have begun to
incorporate it systematically into their educational travel programs (Hale et al. 360). Hale,
Vogelaar, and Long argue that due to speedy travel being required in most programs, airplane
travel is used and therefore causes large impacts on the environment. While environmental
sustainability aspects were cited the most by the institutions. The authors label this as a
disconnect between the discourses of sustainability and its practice. When students go on an
international trip with an educational institution, they should have explicit learning goals related
to sustainable travel. The authors were understanding, stating that certainly, not every education
travel program can have sustainability as its main theme; students travel for many purposes
including to study languages, cultures, art, music, politics, etc (Hale et al. 361). Keeping this in
mind, they suggest and affirm that secondary goals regarding sustainable travel practices could
be part of almost any program and indeed many of the above reasons for travel are naturally
find this article fitting and appropriate to relate to this focus. Although it does not necessarily
highlight the importance of sustainability between all of the worlds nations, it sheds light on
how such small things as educational travel can affect it. Additionally, the authors bring attention
to economic and socio-cultural aspects of sustainability, both of which are often forgotten about
Homa 3
in the shadow of environmental sustainability. Considering how many students are participating
in these travel programs, a transnational effect on the economic and socio-cultural sides of
I agree with the authors that although universities are teaching students about the
importance of sustainability, this topic is not being effectively applied to actual actions in
exchange or travel programs. I believe that students should be made much more aware about the
outcomes of their participation in these programs. Personally, I have spent one year in Germany
as an exchange student, living in a fairly small town on the border with Austria. Keeping in mind
that I have always been taught in school about the importance of sustainability, the private
organization through which my exchange was coordinated did not cover this topic very much at
all, demonstrating this disconnect between the discourses of sustainability and its practice.
Although during the time that I was living there I noticed several differences between life in the
United States and life in Germany, I did not consider the effects that my experience will have on
sustainability. Environmental sustainability was the easiest aspect to consider, as it was apparent
that Germanys system of sorting plastics, trash, glass, and compost would be more
environmentally friendly. My frequent airplane, train, and bus travel to attend exchange seminars
sustainability did not cross my mind. Retroactively, I am now noticing how my presence in that
small town affected the local economy and the people living there. In an economical aspect, a
single person like me probably did not change much, but in terms of culture, I had an impact for
sure. In such a small town, especially one which never had an American exchange student
before, my presence was pretty obvious. Within a day or two, the students in my small class all
knew who I was, naturally as I adjusted to their culture and they asked about mine. I learned to
Homa 4
be able to look at things with a completely different perspective, as did my close friends in
Germany. The change was also as abrupt when I finally left to go home after a year.
I knew that I would be experiencing a new culture, but I did not know how this can
change people, and most importantly I did not know how it contributes to sustainability. Now I
realize that if people around the world do not understand each other and their different views on
things, we will never progress as a civilization, which in my opinion is the definition of the
socio-cultural aspect of sustainability. It is undoubtedly a transnational topic and issue. I was not
prepared for this by any school, organization, or book, and I feel like the several different aspects
Work Cited
Hale, Brack W., Alison Vogelaar, and Joshua Long. "A-Broad Spectrum: Sustainability in