Conferences are necessary and productive means of communicating scientists’ work to their peers and the public. However, to attend conferences, scientists have to travel. Most traveling occurs by planes, cars, and trains: all release carbon into the atmosphere. How can we minimise scientists’ carbon emissions? Since attending conferences is desirable and unavoidable, scientists will continue to travel. Thus, in order to minimise the impact of our carbon emissions, we must offset them using credible carbon offsetting programmes run by trustworthy organisations.
What is the scale of the problem? Most of the travelling occurs via the most polluting means of transportation: air travel. I, Gabriel, have calculated that I am personally responsible for over 6.4 tonnes of carbon emissions per year! I am only a mild sufferer of eco-anxiety, but this number frightens me! Multiply this over the entire scientific community and it adds up to significant numbers. We owe it to our children and the younger generation to invest in ways that will minimise our professional carbon footprint.
To help scientists offset their carbon emissions, we have created the Scientists Grove to which you can add trees. It is very simple. Click here to do so.