Ruth MottramJun 12, 2024
Have been grappling a bit with today: a day trip to Geneva by plane to talk sea level rise and Antarctic ice sheet melt. Many very nice comments afterwards and surprisingly high support from the people in the room (primarily directors of national hydromet institutes or their reps) for better, more consistent time series of climate data from #Antarctica, which we desperately need to understand the processes better. Still, I can't help worrying about the CO2
Show threadSteve EasterbrookJun 12, 2024

@Ruth_Mottram There's a related ethical question: I got to this stage in my career through a lot of networking at conferences. But what about my grad students? Should they not have the same opportunities?

I ended up applying some strict rules on my own travel: use train or EV instead of flying when possible; if not, use direct flights only; make each flight count by doing more local visits & talks when I do travel.
Also, practice #SlowTravel

Show threadJack AtkinsonJun 12, 2024

@steve @Ruth_Mottram reading this on the eurostar on the way back from #PASC24 - I'm lucky to have an institute/funder that is open to my decision not to fly and my views of hypocrisy as a climate scientist. IMO We need more pressure and willingness from funders, institutes, and group leaders to encourage this, especially from those who can afford to do so.

I also find it a much more pleasurable way to travel, especially today seeing the high alps give way to lake Geneva then Rhône valley.

Show threadEarthworm

Dear academics in this thread:

This 'flying scientist worried about emissions' dilemma is to me a perfect case where we could move away from guilt-driven individual action aiming to reduce our carbon footprint to become aware of our handprint to achieve collective/administrative changes [1].

We organize the conferences, we have access to the administrations that pay our travel costs and we know the community.

There are definitely alternatives:

"A straightforward way of cutting emissions therefore could just be reducing the number of meetings, e.g. organizing recurring annual meetings only every other year. This could also have other benefits such as more available time for research, teaching, or mentoring. In addition, it would impose less pressure to be away from home for the sake of visibility for researchers with families, which is a phenomenon that female scientists encounter more often than their male colleagues.

As humans, we find it easiest to network in person, but by solely relying on in-person meetings, certain groups of people can be excluded from the global science community. In order to allow for both an in-person experience as well as accessibility, an approach could be a hybrid format in which the visibility and networking opportunities for online attendants are prioritized. For large meetings, a hub format including virtual participation could be considered." [2]

We can do this! The benefits regarding inclusion, decolonization and, of course, emission reduction would be impressive.
 

‐---------
Further info:

A comprehensive toolbox to achieve flight reduction in academic institutions:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-023-00069-y

List of specific measures:
https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/associates/services/organisation/Schulleitung/mobilitaetsplattform/Measures%20for%20Academic%20Air%20Travel%20Reduction.pdf

[1] Here's the concept of the handprint:
https://kolektiva.social/@earthworm/112530668693156607

[2] i love this article: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/3/5/pgae143/7659884?login=false

@jatkinson1000 @steve @Ruth_Mottram

#EcologicalHandprint #CarbonFootprint #EcologicalFootprint #AcademicChatter

An evidence-based approach to accelerate flight reduction in academia - npj Climate Action

On the path towards net zero emissions in academia, reducing flight emissions is of high importance, yet particularly difficult to achieve. Flight emissions have a major share of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of research institutions but reducing them is challenging, because flying has become an essential part of academic culture. While there is a large amount of literature on the relevance of flight reduction in academia, very little data and hands-on experience exists on what a successful reduction process might entail. This paper contributes to closing this gap by presenting data from interviews and surveys from eight academic institutions on reasons for air travel and alternatives, showing how a transdisciplinary approach can support a transformation from a high to a low flying culture, and suggesting a practical path forward with the aid of an open-access toolbox on how to reduce flight emissions in academia.

Nature
Jun 12, 2024 at 8:13pmWeb