Climate CV

PREAMBLE

Many of us are aware of the fact that flying is one of the main contributors to the global climate breakdown. Still, many of us fly. Especially we scientists have many reasons to fly: We fly to conferences to present talks or posters, we are invited to present our work as keynote speakers, or we simply meet with fellow scientists to discuss future grant proposals. All in the knowing that this behaviour is highly problematic, resulting in a climate footprint that is beyond any scale of sustainability.

The idea of this climate CV originated from discussions in the research group “Environmental Psychology” located at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany. We invite scientists of all disciplines to think about their behaviour, and to create, provide, and discuss their own climate CV. With being transparent in our own ranks, we hope to lead the way towards a society that questions the necessity of flying and frequent global scientific meetings.

 

My journey to flying less and this climate CV

Before I started my work in the research group „Environmental Psychology“ in Landau, Germany, I gave not much thought about my (private and work-related) flying behaviour. Although I was aware of climate change and environment-harming behaviours, I was not really aware of the huge impact my own flying behaviour has. Conference attendance was seen as an opportunity to present and hear about data, to network, and to combine it with a stay at a nice place. Travelling behaviour was questioned neither by me nor my colleagues. The only reasons questioning a trip or transport option were money- or time-related issues but never environment-related ones. This changed when I joined the Environmental Psychology group in Landau. I met several researchers who decided not to fly (anymore) and for whom it is natural to only visit conferences that were reachable by train or bus. This led me to reflect my own (private and work-related) behaviour and to question the need of visiting a distant conference. I invite others to do so too.

 

List of attended conferences / workshops / research stays

All national conferences/workshops/talks (i.e., within Germany) were reached either by train (4 conferences, 1 talk) or as a fellow passenger in a car (2 conferences) when they were not located in the city where I lived during that time (7 workshops).

All international conferences and research stays are listed below. Most of my work-related trips were combined with private stays at that or a nearby location so that private travels were reduced. For international conferences and work-related stays, about 60,555 km were travelled, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 10,581 kg CO2 equivalents. The sustainable yearly climate budget for a human being is estimated to be 2,300 kg.

(updated: October 2019)

 

Distance (X) calculations were approximated using Google maps (car, bus, and train) and https://www.luftlinie.org/ (airplane). Based on these values greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, CH4 und N2O) were calculated with

  • 32g* X km; for travel by bus
  • 38g * X km; for travel by train
  • 140g * X km; for travel by car
  • 214g* X km; for travel by airplane

(values are based on German Environmental Agency:

https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/376/publikationen/180607_uba_hg_fernbus_bf.pdf)

 

Year

Destination

Reason

Total distance

Greenhouse gas emissions

2019

Leuven, Belgium, and Plymouth, UK

Visiting two conferences (ECVP and ICEP)

2,406 km by train

91 kg

2019

Liverpool, UK

Visiting a workshop (VPDVP)

2,428 km by train

92 kg

2018

Trieste, Italy

Visiting two conferences
(VSAC & ECVP)

2,026 km by train

77 kg

2018

Rome, Italy

Visiting a conference (IAPS)

2,603 km by train

99 kg

2016

Barcelona, Spain

Visiting two conferences
(VSAC & ECVP)

3,001 km by airplane

260 km by car
(with 5 fellow passengers)

259 km by train

 

∑= 3,520 km

689 kg

2015

St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA

Visiting a conference (VSS)

15,487 km by airplane

598 km by train

93 km by bus

 

∑ = 16,177 km

3,340 kg

2014

Belgrade, Serbia

Visiting two conferences
(VSAC & ECVP)

2,126 km by airplane

598 km by train

 

∑ = 2,724 km

478 kg

2013

Vienna, Austria

Visiting a conference (TeaP)

1,293 km by car
(with 4 fellow passengers)

181 kg

2011

Prague, Czech Republic

Visiting a conference
(ToK Conference of Comparative Cognition)

518 km by train

20 kg

2009

Springbok, South Africa

Internship / research stay

25,023 km by airplane

919 km by car
(with 1 fellow passenger)

562 km by bus

355 km by train

 

∑ = 26,859 km

5,515 kg

Conferences that were not visited due to distance:

  • VSS, St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA (2016 till now)

 

Further contributions to the environment

  • Never owned a car
  • Eating mainly plant-based
  • Avoiding plastic whenever possible
  • Engaged in conserving biodiversity by actively supporting the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Naturschutzbund Deutschland)
  • Donating regularly for habitat and species conservation programmes
  • Supporting Scientists4Future and FridaysForFuture