Closing the carbon loop: carbon neutrality in education abroad

Dickinson College faculty and students participated in an immersive semester-long learning experience, referred to as a “Mosaic”, focused on Sustainability and the Just Energy Transition in Germany. While the benefits of education abroad are numerous, there are also climate change costs associated with travel. Dickinson Mosaic students, faculty, and staff questioned how to support sustainability and education abroad to meet and maintain commitments to carbon neutrality and global education. Paramount to this learning was their examination of carbon dioxide offsets, a market-based solution that compensates for unavoidable climate change emissions (including those associated with air travel) by either sequestering carbon or preventing carbon dioxide emissions. The group integrated these considerations into the Mosaic through classroom curriculum, travel planning and operations, experiential learning, and educational outreach. The experiential learning provided space for the students to explore the energy geographies of carbon offsetting in practice, including debates about whether the offsets actually close the carbon loop. Mosaic students projected their carbon emissions before departure, adapted their behaviors to reduce emissions in Germany, estimated the program’s actual carbon emissions, engaged in education upon returning to campus, and in theory closed their carbon loop, using carbon offsets. Collectively, students applied their sustainability classroom learning to their study abroad experience. Their learning could serve as inspiration for future education abroad opportunities as institutions of higher education continue to face the challenge of balancing carbon reduction with global experiences abroad.