[Coral-List] Not flying, not attending, why doesn't ICRS do it differently...

Paul Hearty kaisdad04 at gmail.com
Mon Mar 16 19:09:37 UTC 2020


Thank you Peter Sale.


On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 3:04 PM Peter Sale via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Hi all,
> I had vowed to myself that I would not enter into this discussion, but I
> find myself having to say a few things - call it a senior scientist
> prerogative.  First, I decided months ago that I would not be going to
> Brehmen - too far, too expensive, and especially for me, too old.  Its time
> for the next generation to step forward.  Still I have amazing memories
> from past ICRS's, of experiences that would never occur with live
> streaming, face time or any other technical replacement for getting
> together.  Everything from sharing a cabin with Yossi Loya and a sheltered
> space near a funnel with Ross Robertson on the Marco Polo, to dancing till
> I dropped in Tahiti, to giving a plenary in Townsville, and to hearing some
> amazing talks at all the ICRS's I've managed to attend.  Do not dismiss the
> importance of direct person-to-person interaction in progressing the
> science.  (In fact, with Covid-19 leading many universities around the
> world to move towards exclusively online instruction, we may f
>  inally convince ourselves that there is something seriously missing when
> the mentor and students are not in the same physical space.)
>
> The suggestion that we must curtail flying because of the CO2 emissions is
> valid.  The world is going to have to move towards slower, less
> carbon-intensive forms of travel than we currently enjoy.  It will move
> that way either by retaining flying, but pricing it only for the 1%,
> leaving the rest of us far less mobile than we now are, or the change will
> be achieved by widespread recognition that flying damages the environment
> and should be reserved for only the most necessary travel by all of us.  A
> world in which groups of scientists (there are many groups beyond coral
> reef scientists) meet regularly, in their thousands, in large conferences
> that attract a global constituency is probably passing.  The future will be
> different and ICRS needs to grapple with that fact.  We scientists need to
> begin thinking of the global gathering as a once-in-two-decades experience,
> not something that occurs routinely, and we need to make full use of the
> few such gatherings that occur.  And, yes, there
>   are many ways available to most of us to reduce our footprints.
>
> The complaints about costs of ICRS come up every four years (and, yes, it
> has got pretty pricy over the years).  I don't think many people who have
> actually organized and run a large meeting protest at the costs - they
> recognize this is an expensive undertaking.  To their credit, most
> organizers of ICRS meetings have put major effort into subsidizing the
> attendance of students, junior professionals and scientists from less
> wealthy countries, and to a degree, other participants cover part of that
> cost.  I have no solutions except to say, 'volunteer to help run a meeting'
> and 'think of a global meeting as the luxury it should be, not as an event
> you are entitled to attend'.
>
> Now that I've pissed lots of you off, allow me two more comments.  First,
> Covid-19 has appeared unexpectedly and is throwing all sorts of plans into
> chaos.  I honestly do not know if it will be safe or permitted to be flying
> internationally and aggregating at large meetings in just 4 months from
> now.  This has nothing to do with climate change, and everything to do with
> the global environmental crisis.  Second, my sympathy to those individuals
> who have been working hard to make Brehmen ICRS a success.  They must now
> be agonizing over whether they will have to pull the plug on the
> conference, at what economic cost, whether they can go forward but with
> greatly reduced attendance, or whether, through some miracle, the world
> will be back to normal and the conference can be the success they hope to
> produce.  I hope for the latter, for their sake, and for the sake of the
> coral reef community.  Those of us not engaged in bringing this conference
> into being should perhaps temper our criticis
>  ms and look for ways to help cope with a very difficult situation.
>
> Peter Sale
> University of Windsor, Canada
> www.petersalebooks.com<http://www.petersalebooks.com>
> sale at uwindsor.ca
>
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>


-- 
Dr. Paul J. Hearty  (on Research Gate & Google Scholar)

Adjunct, Geol. Sci., Jackson School, U TX Austin

*Veritas temporis filia*


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