Hello Jorge,
riding a train cross-country is extremely enjoyable, affords time for
oneself and is also a great gesture.
But at the same time, unfortunately it is time consuming (5 days from
Miami to Portland one way, difficult to take that much time off for,
especially for those with families) as well as expensive ($638 one way
seating only, unless one books 3 months in advance to get 50% off).
Poor Amtrak.
As regards reducing the environmental footprint of a conference, that
could happen if conferences got web-based, instead of one centralized
place. There could be local conferences happening over the same period
in major cities, linked by either real-time video, or archived videos
of talks. There can be an online directory of posters, which people
can browse at will, and contact authors by email (skype follow ups,
whatever they organize personally).
This would certainly reduce the amount of travel, as well as enable
far greater participation (way more global.. for instance a student in
Lagos or Lima or Kolkata can access the portal).
I'm sure that is the direction as real-time streaming gets cheaper and
more widespread. There would be increased energy costs in streaming
and data warehousing, but that would be a blip in a world already
bursting with online videos, etc.
Any discussion on this ?
cheers,
Amartya
Quoting Jorge Ramos <[email protected]>:
Hello ESA 2012 participants,
The ESA Student Section is happy to announce that one of its members,
Andrew Reinman, will be riding the train from Boston, MA to to Portland, OR
to attend the 2012 ESA annual meeting! He is doing this and inviting others
to do it to help reduce the environmental footprint of the meeting.
To read more about him, his initiative, and how to meet up with him at a
train station, visit the link in the ESA Student Section website (
http://www.esa.org/students/section/node/457). You can also find his
contact info in the ESA-SS website and on the ESA-SS Facebook page (
https://www.facebook.com/groups/4239397781/)
Stay involved and make sure you keep an eye out for Andrew at your nearest
train station!
Jorge
ESA-SS website: http://www.esa.org/students/section/
ESA-SS facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4239397781/
ESA-SS twitter: @esa_students
--
Jorge Ramos
PhD Student
Wetland Ecosystem Ecology Lab
Arizona State University
WEEL website: <http://weel.asu.edu/>http://weel.asu.edu/
Research Associate
Southeastern Environmental Research Center
Florida International University
