Right now 28,000 scientists are at the #AGU19 conference in San Francisco:How far do they fly to SF&back? 285million km=1.9x Earth-Sun=🌎🛫🌞🛬🌎.That's a big carbon footprint.Why we can't decarbonise @theAGU without virtual participation?White paper: github.com/milankl/Carbon… 1/5 
How big is big? The travel carbon footprint of 24,000 presenters at #AGU19 is 69,300tCO2e, 2.9tCO2e per scientist. Why? Despite 63% of attendees are from North America, intercontinental flights are 75% of total emissions: Scientists commuting between NA, East Asia and Europe. 2/5
How can we reduce the carbon footprint? Train&Bus? No, assuming everyone within 1,500km from SF doesn't fly, saves 2%. Other location? Yes, but limited. DC would save 8%, Chicago is nearly optimal and saves 12%. Hawaii would increase the emissions by 42%. 3/5
Only option with a big step towards #netzero? Virtual participation.For everyone?No, only 36% of attendees are responsible for 74% of emissions. This is not about individual blaming.Networking is super important, but currently only those with time,money&visa can participate. 4/5
For example @stylergroup & @MingLyu2 sad story. The scientific community shouldn't live within a country's boundaries!
