The IE-NETs project will be represented at the upcoming International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions, where we will give two short presentations on summary results from our recently completed Post-Paris Literature Review of Negative Emissions Technology, and Potential for Ireland. We're very much looking forward to meeting and engaging with the emerging community of NETs/CDR researchers at this first international conference dedicated to these topics. That said ... we're also keenly aware of the environmental (and especially climate) impact of our own activities. With that in mind, we have just offered a "modest suggestion" to the conference organisers, which we share here in case it is of wider interest. Even if the suggestion proves too late for formal discussion at Gothenburg, we would certainly appreciate any reactions or comments from visitors to the IE-NETs blog. Do feel free to email us at: ienets@dcu.ie From barry.mcmullin@dcu.ie Thu Apr 12 12:54:59 2018 Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2018 12:54:26 +0100 (IST) From: Barry McMullin To: Int. Conf. on Negative CO2 Emissions 2018 Cc: Barry McMullin Subject: Planning future NETs/CDR conferences: a modest suggestion? Dear conference organisers - This is a very late suggestion, so I will completely understand if it is not feasible... but I am guessing that there may be some slot during the conference where there will be discussion of possible future conferences in this “series”? If that is the case, I would like to suggest that there might be some specific discussion of whether to migrate wholly, or at least partially, to a “nearly carbon neutral” (NCN) conferencing model, as described here, for example: “A Nearly Carbon-Neutral Conference Model:White Paper/Practical Guide” This suggestion of course reflects the very active discussion in the wider climate research community in relation to the interaction between our own academic culture and norms and wider societal perceptions and expectations, as highlighted for example here: “Towards a culture of low-carbon research for the 21st Century”[Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research] and here: “Flying Less: Reducing Academia's Carbon Footprint” [A petition addressed to “Universities and Professional Associations”] If this suggestion is of interest, obviously I would be very happy to help facilitate or support the discussion in any way that might be useful or appropriate. Kind regards - Barry. PS: For what it is worth - I will be using surface travel only (ferry/train) to get from Dublin to Gothenburg. This will, of course, have negligible material impact on the emissions associated with the conference: but it is a symbolic act of solidarity with other “low carbon” academics, that seems important to me personally, at least... -- Professor Barry McMullin, School of Electronic Engineering Dublin City University phone: +353-1-700-5432 web: http://www.eeng.dcu.ie/~mcmullin/ skype: barrymcmullin-dcu.ie |
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