New piece in the European Scientist to be found by clicking here.
Pre-Covid, scientists and more generally academics clocked up thousands and thousands of airmiles to attend conferences, workshops, and various other professional meetings. I know: I did the same. Many of us would travel at least once a month (some weekly) to often remote locations to give talks, lectures, or review grants and proposals, and attend advisory boards or scientific councils. Extensive travelling was for the most part unnecessary but provided some kind of validation as to the impact of our work and our status in the academic and research world. Part of the travelling was also very useful: conferences remain wonderful communication tools where ideas can thrive, new unpublished knowledge can be revealed, and collaborations can be set up between colleagues. They also offer inspiring moments, not least for the younger attendees.
However, there is a problem: travelling means releasing carbon into the atmosphere, and thus exacerbates global warming. With the Covid-19 pandemic monopolising all our attention, it is easy to forget that man-made climate change is already unleashing another catastrophe that threatens to be much worse than the Covid-19 crisis. Covid-19 has halted academic travel brutally but we must commit to not returning to the pre-Covid era of unrestrained travel once a vaccine or/and a cure to SARS-CoV2 infection is found.
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