Event Details

Lancaster University's carbon footprint due to academic flying is growing dramatically. Given the climate emergency how can we tackle this?

The LEC Sustainability Group, in collaboration with Becky Willis (LEC Professor in Practice) are running a workshop to explore what Lancaster University could do to reduce its carbon footprint due to academic flying, which has grown by 67% over the last 5 years.

This workshop is for all Lancaster University members (staff and student), from those who feel that flying is intrinsically part of our jobs, to those who no longer fly at all, or those are thinking of signing up to the Flight Free 2020 pledge.

We will start with short talks from Lancaster staff and students about their experiences in this area, as well as a contribution (via Zoom) from Charlotte Rae from Sussex University who has written a useful guide to reducing the climate impact of research and academic societies(focusing especially on conferences).

We will then break into groups to discuss different issues around flying and our work (ranging from overseas teaching commitments, fieldwork, conferences, collaboration, etc), and start to develop ideas for practical solutions that the University could implement.

The aim is to develop a better idea of the tensions that exist in this area and how we as staff and students can help to shape Lancaster University's policies and our academic culture, to support lower carbon, more sustainable practice. We will use the findings from the session to discuss with LU leaders how our travel practices might change in the context of a climate emergency.