saed: yes, that's a good one: but i'm struggling to translate this
discussion to a swedish setting...
jamie: not being a big conference jet-setter, but when i want to visit
a conference overseas (outside scandinavia, by air travel) i usually
put in one-two weeks of vacation after the event to have a look around
that place. for me and some of my travel companions, it has been a way
of digesting and sorting out the montgolfiers from the really moving
stuff, so to speak. this won't help the climate that much, but it makes
me very picky about which conferences i choose and can afford to go to.
(slow career suicide?)
cheers,
jonas
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Jonas R Bylund, PhD
Dept. of Human Geography
Stockholm University
[log in to unmask]
http://people.su.se/~jbylu/
On 2007-09-05, at 18.34, Jamie Heckert wrote:
My responses to various posts on this thread:
Ecological footprint -- I keep wondering whether this metaphor acts as
a form of medicalisation (i.e., individualising and possibly
shame-inducing) -- "Hey, your footprint is swollen! What have you been
doing? What can you do to bring that down?"
I'm in full agreement that collective action is necessary to bring
about a climate stability (among other benefits) -- I LOVE the idea of
a general strike on the RAE! At the same time, individual behavioural
change is part of the process. It seems to me, in my reading and
practice in sexual health as well as in collective organising and
interpersonal relationships, that people are more likely to listen and
show empathy for others' concerns ( e.g., a desire for climate
stability) after they have been listened to and received empathy for
their own needs (e.g., appreciation, connection, community, security,
etc.) Telling people they are doing it wrong (e.g. driving or flying)
often triggers feelings of guilt or shame ( e.g., from needing
connection), or anger (e.g., needing autonomy -- "don't tell me what to
do") and rarely encourage either behaviour change or the sense of
connection needed to support collective organisation.
It seems to me that people in academia travel to conferences for a
number of reasons besides just career advancement: e.g., to feel a
sense of community, to be listened to, to be stimulated by discussion
on topics of shared interest, etc. I wonder what other strategies
people doing scholarly work could do to both meet these needs and to
support climate stability? Teleconferencing has been mentioned as one
(especially great idea of combining with a local conference so people
get face-to-face contact!). Another idea might be find ways to engage
with people in the local area who might share an interest in particular
topics if not the academic training. This might offer new perspectives
from those outside of a field, support academics in their capacity to
communicate with others, and nurture a sense of community and
empowerment through knowledge/skill sharing.
Why might you want to do this or something like it? Well, how many many
of us have experienced the post-conference blues? (I was really
relieved to discover, only after attending many conferences, that this
was a common experience; for a long-time I thought it was just me.)
Perhaps the temporary (pseudo?) community of the conference experience
indicates the real need for community in everyday life. Maybe promoting
climate stability isn't about what we have to give up, but what we have
to gain. What do you like about conferences? Is there something there
that you could bring into your everyday life?
Another idea I've had for collective action is finding ways to support
people to spend more time in an area when/if they do travel for a
conference. I'm thinking of the Anarchist Studies conference I'm
helping to plan for next year in the UK; rather than asking people not
to come from far away, could groups form to facilitate speaking tours,
accommodation, invitations to participate in local discussions or other
actions?
I'd love to here others' thoughts on how to shift (academic) culture to
support climate stability.
Yours,
Jamie
[NB: This e-mail is influenced by ecopsychology & non-violent
communication (NVC)]
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