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Hello dear colleagues.
As scientists, we should be fully aware of the danger of climate change, and when alarming studies on the environmental impact of man on our planet are published, we should take action.
We also understand that an effect is more likely to be significant with a larger “n”. So here is my question: Shouldn’t we, as a large scientific community, try to reduce our carbon footprint? If so, how? I would be interested in hearing your opinion on that issue.
Here are some initial thoughts: 1] Make conferences more environmentally friendly. While organizing conferences we can try to reduce our plastic waste (avoid plastic bottles, or plastic cup, use recyclable name tags…), paper (no more printed programs, note pads, or flyers into conferences bags). There are plenty of eco
alternatives for those. Also, we could reduce our consumption of red meat (OK, I don’t suggest to go vegan yet, just to reduce the amount of meat that will be served and avoid leftovers).
2] Deleting the archived emails from the auditory list from our personal inbox. As you know, data centers storing our emails consume a lot of energy. If each of the recipients of this list deleted the emails they receive after reading them, it could mean hundreds of thousands less emails to store and as much energy
saved. These messages are stored in the auditory list archive already so that can be accessed easily:
http://www.auditory.org/postings/
3] Reducing the amount of air travel for conferences. Yes, I know that networking is an essential part of our job; however, can we try to reduce the number of miles we are traveling each year? For example, during the next big conference (ASA or ARO) instead of having everyone going to the
same city, can we organize the conference at two venues simultaneously: one on the East coast and one on the West? People would join the closest venue and talks would be transmitted via video conferences so that everybody can attend all the presentations.
These are of course just some suggestions. I am far from having all the good solutions and ideas. I just hope that together we can find some. Jeremy
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