Fly Less, Connect Better
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What should we do?
As members of the political science community, we recommend a straightforward four-year test of alternating in-person and online annual meetings in the APSA, MPSA, SPSA, and WPSA. We call for adoption of this plan as soon as possible. While we hope that all four associations will embrace this proposal, there is no reason for any one of them to wait for the others.
Why act? The climate
Reducing the number of in-person conferences recognizes our shared responsibility to move away from collectively unsustainable practices in the face of a climate crisis that has caused mounting death and devastation and threatens looming catastrophe. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said the world needs to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to avoid a dangerous average temperature increase greater than 1.5°C. Shifting to online conferences every other year helps us achieve significant emissions reductions, in line with the global reductions urged by the IPCC. It enables scholars to benefit from intellectual exchange without augmenting the climate crisis. It will encourage other organizations to take similar steps.
Why act? Inclusion
While political science gatherings help build our professional and intellectual relationships, in-person meetings exclude many people because of disability, health conditions, caring obligations, financial constraints, or visa restrictions. Also excluded are scholars who have stopped flying to conferences because they believe that doing so in a climate crisis is wrong. Well-designed online conferences open the conversation to a broader and more diverse range of scholars and students.
What about...?
Answers to some questions you might still have:
As members of the political science community, we recommend a straightforward four-year test of alternating in-person and online annual meetings in the APSA, MPSA, SPSA, and WPSA. We call for adoption of this plan as soon as possible. While we hope that all four associations will embrace this proposal, there is no reason for any one of them to wait for the others.
Why act? The climate
Reducing the number of in-person conferences recognizes our shared responsibility to move away from collectively unsustainable practices in the face of a climate crisis that has caused mounting death and devastation and threatens looming catastrophe. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said the world needs to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to avoid a dangerous average temperature increase greater than 1.5°C. Shifting to online conferences every other year helps us achieve significant emissions reductions, in line with the global reductions urged by the IPCC. It enables scholars to benefit from intellectual exchange without augmenting the climate crisis. It will encourage other organizations to take similar steps.
Why act? Inclusion
While political science gatherings help build our professional and intellectual relationships, in-person meetings exclude many people because of disability, health conditions, caring obligations, financial constraints, or visa restrictions. Also excluded are scholars who have stopped flying to conferences because they believe that doing so in a climate crisis is wrong. Well-designed online conferences open the conversation to a broader and more diverse range of scholars and students.
What about...?
Answers to some questions you might still have:
- Why should we be the first?
We are not the first. The American Philosophical Association has decided to hold one of every three divisional meetings online, on a three-year trial basis. The Middle East Studies Association has decided to move its 2024 conference mostly online, for reasons relating to accessibility, climate change, health, and cost. - Can’t we keep annual in-person conferences and supplement them with virtual conferences at a different time of year?
This doesn’t fully address the problem. Adding online meetings is a welcome step, but doing so while preserving the annual in-person conference risks creating a two-tier system in which the in-person conference would be regarded as the “real” event carrying greater prestige and recognition. Such a policy wouldn’t achieve the needed emissions reductions, since there would be formal and informal pressure for many participants to privilege in-person attendance. - Aren’t virtual conferences inferior?
Not if we work at it. New videoconferencing platforms and professional services, alongside lessons gained from the successes and failures of recent online conferences, open up spaces for creative program design. Though online meetings cannot duplicate all the benefits of in-person meetings, they offer other benefits that in-person meetings cannot provide. Watch parties, interactive platforms, and virtual networking are among the opportunities worth exploring. The move to a more sustainable and inclusive conference model may yield welcome surprises. - Won’t this have a high financial cost for our associations?
We think not. It should be possible to create conference and membership fee structures that will maintain or increase net revenues. This is because money saved from travel, hotel lodging, hotel conference fees, catering, and restaurants gives us collective room to maneuver; because departments should be persuaded to reimburse membership and registration fees; and because associations will be able to collect fees from scholars who are not otherwise able to participate. - Why can't we just offset our flight emissions?
Carbon offsets won’t solve our problem. Concerns have been raised about the reliability and effectiveness of carbon offsets. They are a controversial and at best insufficient strategy to reduce our associations’ emissions. They do not address issues of inclusion. - Can’t we postpone taking action?
No. The IPCC’s March 2023 report urges “deep, rapid, and sustained” reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and calls on governments, the private sector and civil society to “make inclusive development choices that prioritize risk reduction, equity and justice.” As climate scientist Peter Thorne stated at the IPCC’s March 2023 press conference, “Action is needed at all levels, from intergovernmental through governments through communities to individuals. We are beyond the point where … climate change can be somebody else’s problem…. We have to act now.” Nor should we delay efforts to make our associations more inclusive.
- Why alter an existing conference model that provides many benefits?
We can recognize those benefits while accepting the need for change. We acknowledge the trepidation that accompanies major change, but remind our colleagues of the new opportunities created by the Fly Less, Connect Better model. The main reward is the knowledge that we are not hiding from reality but instead taking on the challenge of doing what is right for our planet and our community. We encourage our colleagues to adopt the model in that spirit.
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