Sustainable Development has become dominant in policy debates in the last two decades. Standard models in neoclassical economics as taught in undergraduate classes fail to capture the complex relationships between the economy and the environment. This creates a major gap in students’ understanding of sustainable development. We make the case that innovative teaching technique will allow students to better grasp this complex relationship. We examine the integration of academic travel into the economics curriculum as a tool to expose students to important aspects of sustainable development and allow them to gain a more meaningful insight into the subject.