Thread by @milankloewer

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

We need a virtual AGU with live-streaming, remote speaking etc to be inclusive and to go towards #netzero. Other conferences do it too; linux is created by thousands without the need to fly. Why can we not do it? I don't know, push @theAGU for change. Here's your roadmap: 5/5

For example @stylergroup & @MingLyu2 sad story. The scientific community shouldn't live within a country's boundaries!

https://twitter.com/stylergroup/status/1204209091763040256