Brian J Peterson
Prof. Evelyne SchmidI think we academics overestimate our importance if we insist that we meet in person for a conference restricting remote options & in a place most only reach with a huge #climate footprint🌏 (+if privileged🛂💰). I consider it would be unethical for me to attend such events. Some of us in #internationallaw #lawprof #publiclaw received an invitation today. #staygrounded #climateemergency @StayGrounded_net @PIL
@StayGrounded_net @PIL Here is the invitation, now online. https://www.icon-society.org/news/2023-icons-conference-funding-opportunity/
Stay Grounded NetworkSo important to reflect and change travel in academia!
The next training on how to ground organisations, held by our partner Explane, takes place on November 28th. Check it out: https://www.timetoexplane.com/index.php/training/
Potato Enthusiast 🇵🇸@Br3nda @StayGrounded_net @PIL 💔 Geography is unfair. We should one try this idea with the "hublets" invented by the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour , mentioned by https://akademienl.social/@renordquist/109394737723085029
Rebecca Nordquist (@[email protected])
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] #ASAB (Association for Study of Animal Behaviour) has done just this, calling them "hublets": https://www.asabwinter.org/hublets Some of the hubs are organizing local talks as well, i.e. Japan, where the time difference with the meeting in Europe means otherwise nothing during the day. I think it is genious.
Zeb Larson@EvelyneSchmid @StayGrounded_net @PIL
While I will (begrudgingly) admit that in-person conferences have certain advantages for networking (especially for younger scholars and practitioners), there's no reason to host them amid our ongoing climate emergency. Collectively, I'm confident we're smart enough to find ways to work around some of the disadvantages of remote meetings.
@Zeb_Larson @StayGrounded_net @PIL Totally agree. Who doesn't love coffee breaks and I have academically benefited from such exchanges. We can still have some on-site events but the big extravagant and global academic conferences should be a thing of the past. Imho the priorities must be how we can enable diverse early-career researchers and those from less privileged contexts to meaningfully exchange (with each other & seniors) and network without this massive carbon footprint.
Noreen O'Meara@EvelyneSchmid @StayGrounded_net @PIL - I'm a big fan of well-organised online conferences, and rarely attend a major conference unless it's hosted in Europe... Having said that, there's scope to innovate for in-person conferences too. It would be good to see some organised with satellite events in different regions, held in parallel - like a decentralised hybrid conference.
@noreen @StayGrounded_net @PIL I like the idea! We discussed it at ESIL. It is just really hard from an organizational perspective. Really hard, also financing etc. If people can do it, fantastic! I think I will have to limit myself to organizing more and hopefully better online events, if any, because I am fighting against deadlines here and there, right and left!
Rebecca Nordquist@EvelyneSchmid @noreen @StayGrounded_net @PIL
#ASAB (Association for Study of Animal Behaviour) has done just this, calling them "hublets": https://www.asabwinter.org/hublets
Some of the hubs are organizing local talks as well, i.e. Japan, where the time difference with the meeting in Europe means otherwise nothing during the day.
I think it is genious.
@renordquist @noreen @StayGrounded_net @PIL If I understand well, there is a main conference and people group in regional hublets to watch and discuss the talks together. I like the idea, it is smart! 
Organzing a hublet requires academic humility but serves the purpose of meaningful exchange while reducing emissions and it is less work than organising a local conference.
Organzing a hublet requires academic humility but serves the purpose of meaningful exchange while reducing emissions and it is less work than organising a local conference.@EvelyneSchmid @noreen @StayGrounded_net @PIL
That is the idea, yes- get people together in one space so that it is not just you and your computer, and you can bounce ideas around based on the talks.
ASAB has been great about new ideas; they have also organized a Twitter-conference in the past, and are organizing one in January, that are excellent. https://www.animbehav2023.com/
@renordquist @noreen @StayGrounded_net @PIL
That Twitter-conference idea is so cool and simple! I take note of these ideas and will feed them into an ongoing discussion/working group at the European Society of #internationallaw.
@EvelyneSchmid @renordquist @StayGrounded_net @PIL - These are great ideas. Happy to see ESIL and ASAB are considering / already doing options like this! The greater variety will create more accessible and affordable venues for academics, especially ECRs... with environmental benefits too.
Arindam Basu@EvelyneSchmid @StayGrounded_net @PIL
I completely agree with you on this.
I took a pledge not to fly for conferences, but it seems I will have relent in December, as the conference organisers of a conference I agreed to speak do not have an online facility for presenters.
There is an urgent need to raise awareness about staying grounded.
@arin_basu @StayGrounded_net @PIL
I made the same committent to myself in 2019 and recognize the privilege of doing this as a tenured professor in a well-connected place in Europe. What would happen if you tell the organizers that you no longer fly and can't give the talk unless it is remote? What would be the outcome you dread most? Could you live with that better than your or other children with the future if we don't take radical measures?
I made the same committent to myself in 2019 and recognize the privilege of doing this as a tenured professor in a well-connected place in Europe. What would happen if you tell the organizers that you no longer fly and can't give the talk unless it is remote? What would be the outcome you dread most? Could you live with that better than your or other children with the future if we don't take radical measures?
@arin_basu @StayGrounded_net @PIL
A colleague did exactly that and the reaction of the organizers were great - they actually congratulated him on Twitter and accommodated for the online talk. I once said "online or no talk" (but also for timing reasons, this was pre-covid). Was my first online event and it was fine!
A colleague did exactly that and the reaction of the organizers were great - they actually congratulated him on Twitter and accommodated for the online talk. I once said "online or no talk" (but also for timing reasons, this was pre-covid). Was my first online event and it was fine!
@arin_basu @StayGrounded_net @PIL Sorry, am only reading now that organizers say no online facility. Maybe this can be changed? The saved travel cots be spent on a Zoom licence and whatever they need so that it might also serve in the future?
@EvelyneSchmid @StayGrounded_net @PIL
Excellent points there Evelyn.
I will need to be more resolute about my refusal to fly unless absolutely necessary in the new year.
@arin_basu @StayGrounded_net @PIL I have found this about non-essential flying ✈️ (which I believe is 100% of flying for myself as a tenured academic in the middle of Europe, both for private or professional reasons) a few months ago and found the results interesting: https://theconversation.com/climate-change-yes-your-individual-action-does-make-a-difference-115169.
@EvelyneSchmid @StayGrounded_net @PIL
Thanks for sharing a great article. The last line packs a punch:
"So, while you won’t save the world on your own, you might be part of the solution"
An important mind shift.
Works for everything.