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

MariaJung89 at t-online.de MariaJung89 at t-online.de
Fri Mar 6 02:57:22 UTC 2020


I'm glad this conversation has been brought back to life after there was an immense discussion about whether or not it is still reasonable to fly around the world (e.g. to the upcoming ICRS) to preach that we have to cut down our emissions in order to save coral reefs (and all other life on Earth). During this past conversation a group of people declared that they will volunteer to set up local meetings simultaneously to the ICRS so people don't have to fly across the whole globe. Have a look if there will be one near you - and if not, maybe you want to create your own?  

https://coralreefweek.wixsite.com/coralreefweek

It is definitely very interesting to see what suddenly is possible to protect human life from Corona virus. Why do we still not understand that the climate crisis is a much greater threat to humanity, and that we should therefore act even more drastically than we do now regarding COVID-19? We now see that it IS possible to not only cancel a personal meeting overseas but perhaps even switch to virtual meeting. We already do have all the resources but we must also be willing to use them. 

Cheers,
Maria



-----Original-Nachricht-----
Betreff: Re: [Coral-List] Stop flying????!
Datum: 2020-03-05T18:21:38+0100
Von: "Jessica Berkel via Coral-List" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
An: "Mark Spalding" <mark at mdspalding.co.uk>

I absolutely love this message. I travel fairly often for my work and even
more often for pleasure.
It's very hard not to since I live on a tiny island in the Caribbean. But I
very much look forward to the day when a video conferencing hookup is
standard in all meeting rooms and not something that is there on special
request.



Jessica Berkel

Marine Park Manager
Sea Turtle Program Coordinator
St Eustatius National Parks Foundation (STENAPA)
Gallows Bay z/n
Lower Town,, St. Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands
Tel: + 599 318 2884
Mobile: +17215867854
web: www. <http://www.statiapark.com>statiapark. <http://www.statiapark.com>
org
Skype: stenapa.statia





On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 11:31 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
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