Re‐Imagining Sustainability in International Education: A New Narrative

ABSTRACT One of the most emergent topics in international education, as well as global society, is how to define, address, and assess environmental and social sustainability. As educators begin traveling again after the COVID‐19 pandemic, universities and organizations continue to recruit and encourage students, in particular, to do the same as part of their critical education. At this moment, there must be an eye toward the environmental, and ultimately social, impacts that these ventures have. Educators and their students must develop actions to mitigate harmful effects while redefining the importance of this international academic travel. According to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Goal of sustainability is to “create and maintain of conditions, under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations” (2023). Per the United Nations Social Compact, social sustainability is defined as the identification and management of business impacts, both positive and negative, on people, directly and indirectly (2024).