How Can UW Fly Less?
How much do you fly? Aaaand have you looked at your ecological footprint?
It may be... crazy.
I’m interning with University of Washington’s Program on the Environment (PoE) to crunch an updated greenhouse gas measurement of UW air travel, to take the same look at our campus impact.
Through discussions and a survey, we plan to take this information and present findings to associated UW departments and college leadership. That outreach is supported by a UW Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF) grant, which backs student-led projects.
UW and PoE have been proactive in supporting research regarding anthropogenic global warming. As a problem caused by people, environmental research institutions worldwide are working to bring people together to implement answers.
Thinking about people in regards to seemingly insurmountable problems is fascinating. I feel like I know enough to understand that I should fly sparingly, and yet, I loooove flying. I also know people who fly regularly for work, but they hate it. It seems like there are answers right in front of us…
To find those answers, previous Capstone students researched how universities calculate their climate impact from air travel, a graduate project assessed the impact itself, and further Capstone coordination implemented recommendations. Five years later, I can’t wait to find what has changed.
The urgency to cancel travel in the face of COVID–19 dangers has led to a number of swift changes. Videoconferencing was a previous recommendation that was almost ignored due to special facilities and training. But now we can zoom on our phone.
However, not everyone is able to make the switch so easily, and that brings up an incredibly important point: the UW community undoubtedly has a higher climate impact than the public in general, and people in the United States have higher impacts than those around the world.
Image from Stay Grounded: Impacts
We must assess our overall impact, and ask: is this sustainable? Currently, it is very much not so.
However, every area I’ve contacted has people with a personal interest in finding solutions. Many departments have already thought about sustainable initiatives, and the people involved are thinking about their personal parts to play, too.
So, I’m very interested – where does air travel fall in your world? Do you (or, I guess, did you) fly to campus from another state or country? Have you flown on vacation, for school, or work? Do you see your level of flying as necessary, and is it sustainable? Finally, what am I missing?
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
–Forrest Baum