[Coral-List] Re Thank you ISRS!

[Alicia Lloyd]

Hi Maoz,

Well said! I wonder if we can make carbon offsetting mandatory for physical attendance (although this is not the answer, its a start)

And to reduce those emissions in the first place have the option for a live Skype-type presentation whereby your presentation is played alongside a video of you in your session for a real (and virtual) audience. 

Could anyone one the ICRS organising committee let me know if these options could be a reality this year?

Kind Regards
Alicia

Alicia Lloyd | PhD
Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster (C3) |University of Technology, Sydney
PO Box 123 | Broadway NSW 2007 | AUSTRALIA
E: alicia2lloyd at gmail.com | W: http://www.c3.uts.edu.au/members/alicia.lloyd.html


Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2016 13:48:33 +0000
From: Maoz Fine <Maoz.Fine at biu.ac.il <mailto:Maoz.Fine at biu.ac.il>>
Subject: [Coral-List] Re Thank you ISRS!
To: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov <mailto:coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov <mailto:coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>>
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I tend to agree with Christian re ICRS.
We tend to blame national economies and large industries for the outrageous greenhouse gas emissions but basically we may have a culture conflict. The ?carbon-hungry? culture to which most of us belong to has an irresponsible demand for carbon. As carriers of the anti-climate change flag, we teach our students, try to educate the public through outreach, advise stakeholders, and spread the word about the hazards of continued emission trends.
As scientists we should be the first to serve as an example and reduce our own carbon footprint. Yet we fly thousands of km to preach to the converted in conferences and meetings. So maybe scientists don?t fully believe in the consequences?
Personally, I feel it is immoral being responsible for 5 tons of carbon emissions for an event such as the ICRS, while lecturing to students and the public that we will probably have to reduce such emissions globally to 2 tons per person per year. I felt so in the previous ICRS and didn?t attend and more so today. I just cannot go for a dive on beautiful reefs, think of their future and then hop on a transatlantic/Pacific flight the next day.
Most of us already travel for research trips and family holidays and this  adds to a significant emission contribution. So as much as I would have liked to attend in person, meet friends and learn what?s new, I think we just cannot afford it in terms of our credibility.  I?m sure the ICRS is going to be an amazing event but it is time to consider a cultural and behavioral change even within our coral reef science community. To save reefs, we must take serious measures such as removing local disturbances and pushing hard to reduce emissions.
I call for a discussion at the ICRS about this issue and means of maintaining scientist?s credibility while networking and communicating.  At a minimum, we should promote the use of teleconferencing and related internet technologies. Encouraging such means of communication will also generate a market for improved and advanced capabilities.


Regards
Maoz

Maoz Fine PhD
Professor of Marine Ecology
The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University
The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Science in Eilat, P.O.B 469 Eilat 88103, Israel


 * regarding the ICRS13: are there studies that prove that these
   massive CO2 emitting events are necessary for our science? and even
   if yes, is it morally acceptable to put our science over the lives
   of humans? If somebody asks us in 30 years why we did not pause our
   global meetings to contribute to emission reductions and set a sign
   for alternatives, will our answer be that we had to finish more
   papers? we knew all the facts, but preferred to stick to our habits?!

 * volunteers are needed? let's start calling them! let's use the
   remaining time before ICRS and every sessions to contribute to
   solutions. Let's ask for money to prepare these solutions. We can
   start now.

Cheers

Christian