[Coral-List] Stop flying????!

Luiz Rocha lrocha at calacademy.org
Thu Mar 5 19:29:43 UTC 2020


As much as I like the idea of having fewer white American/Europeans going
to coral reef countries, publishing high profile papers without
acknowledging locals, and getting all the credit and awards for it, let's
be realistic people: air travel accounts for only about 2.5% of the world's
CO2 emissions, and the decline in pollution over China (and more
specifically Wuhan) was not caused by decline in air travel, but rather, by
decline in manufacturing (factories are still closed) and by the fact that
everyone is staying home and not using cars. If you are really hoping to
move the needle on climate change, please keep in mind that while personal
action is good, we are past the point when that alone will make a
big difference. So by all means, travel less (or if you want to make an
even bigger impact, buy less stuff from China), but the ultimate solution
is urgent high level regulatory changes, so get out and vote.

Cheers,

Luiz

P.S.: What's happening with ICRS? Proceeding as planned? All kinds of
conferences from now through August are being cancelled, so some sort of
official communication from ICRS would be good.

*Luiz A. Rocha, PhD*
Associate Curator and Follett Chair of Ichthyology
California Academy of Sciences
p. 415.379.5370
f.  415.379.5731
LRocha at calacademy.org
Academic Website
<https://www.calacademy.org/staff/ibss/ichthyology/luiz-a-rocha>

55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118

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On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 7:31 AM Mark Spalding via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> I have always felt that we coral reef scientists are weirdly addicted to
> international travel.
>
> Living in Italy, the European capital of COVID-19, things are starting to
> have an impact. All schools (country-wide) have just been closed - probably
> a measure of panic rather than reason (here in Tuscany there are fewer
> cases
> than SE England which has a similar areal extent). Cinemas are struggling
> and sporting events are cancelled. The supermarkets are still full, but
> there are stories of the occasional panic buying in the more locked-down
> areas.
>
> One big impact is of course on travel. Travel to Italy has been smashed as
> people are panicking and cancelling meetings, holidays, weddings. Some of
> these cancellations might be wise. Who wants to be holed up on a plane for
> x
> hours with someone who then contracts COVID-19. What if you get the call,
> sometime after the flight, to tell you that you have stay in your hotel to
> be quarantined for 2 weeks. Away from work, family, friends.
>
> But is this also an opportunity? Since Covid-19 the air in China has never
> been cleaner (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51691967)? Thousands of
> academic meetings and international jamborees in the conservation world are
> going to be cancelled in the coming months. Quite a lot will be postponed
> (think of the hell that will induce in your calendars as half a year's
> travel gets condensed into the other half!) but many more won't happen -
> they'll go virtual, or we'll find work-arounds.
>
> I stopped going to the International Coral Reef Symposium after Bali, 20
> years ago. At the time I wrote to this wonderful List explaining that I was
> happy to pay to attend virturally, but I thought the travel was insane. I
> got a very supportive letter from the then president of ICRS and was told
> they were looking into it. Perhaps they still are? I was happy to pay to
> have live online attendance, or even just access to recordings of
> presentations. These were meetings with 15 or more parallel sessions, and I
> don't suppose they've got any smaller. So, thousands and thousands of
> people
> from around the world, all purportedly concerned about the impact of
> climate
> change on coral reefs, fly to a meeting of which they can only attend
> one-fifteenth.
>
> Of course people need to travel to meetings. Face-to-face interactions can
> greatly facilitate collaboration and opportunity. Expertise needs to be
> shared, fieldwork needs to be done. But people also need to STOP
> TRAVELLING.
> The cost of travel for our planet is immense, so while travel can be
> valuable, not travelling can be even more valuable. If your meeting is
> cancelled please think a bit before re-scheduling.
>
> Take this opportunity to stand back and try and work out non-travel
> solutions to our meeting addiction. If you have to, travel locally and
> travel overland. Send someone else who lives nearer than you to represent
> you!
>
> Reef scientists have failed to set the example so far, but perhaps this is
> our chance?
>
>
>
> Mark D Spalding, PhD
>
> (my views only!)
>
>    Chief Science Advisor to the Government of the British Indian Ocean
> Territory
>
>    Senior Marine Scientist, Global Ocean Team, The Nature Conservancy
>
>   Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge
>
>
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> _______________________________________________
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> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
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>


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