Here is a brief status report on our #flyingless initiative:

• AASHE webinar. We helped organize a webinar for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) titled “The Climate-Friendly Global Academic Conference with a Human Touch.” Here are links to the webinar description and YouTube video. The wonderful speakers were Ken Hiltner (UCSB), Melissa Tier (Swarthmore), Richard Parncutt (Uni Graz), and Tina Woolston (Tufts). The webinar offers an inspiring array of methods for organizing long-distance conferences while preserving much of what is essential and delightful about in-person connections.
• Speaking tour Michigan (Oct 31-Nov 1) and Ithaca, NY (Nov 2). Co-organizer Parke Wilde this week is taking his second Amtrak speaking tour of the year, this time to Michigan and upstate New York. In these years of not flying, it is a precious thing to meet friends in person. Please come say hello!
  • Lecture/Discussion about the 2018 Farm Bill. 11am-noon, Wed Oct 31. Michigan State University, Food Science Building 206. Lansing, MI.
  • Cost-effectiveness of sugar sweetened beverage taxes from a stakeholder perpsective. 4pm-5pm, Wed Oct 31. Michigan State University, Anthony 1135. Lansing, MI.
  • Innovations in Global Low-Carbon Academic Conferencing with a Human Touch. 10:30am-11am, Thurs Nov 1. University of Michigan, CSRB 2424. Ann Arbor, MI.
  • Cost-effectiveness of sugar sweetened beverage taxes from a stakeholder perpsective. 1:30pm-2:30pm, Fri Nov 2. Cornell University University, Warren 401. Ithaca, NY.
• Petition update. This initiative originally got organized in 2015 around a petition to universities and professional associations, asking them to set reasonable goals and measure progress toward flying less (and yet recognizing the need to meet the critical purpose of a university in our struggling world). The online petition site now has 1451 supporters. For purposes of communicating with university leaders, we keep a list more specifically of academics, now with 514 academic signers. Look through the list! If you would like to have your name added as an academic, write academicflyingpetition@gmail.com.
• Other links. See the modest proposal from Michael Kraus in Medium, reflection by Leor Hackel and Gregg Sparkman in Slate, a pile of recent activity from Stay Grounded, a people’s rebellion from Monbiot in the Guardian, and a hundred more interesting links from our Twitter feed @flyingless. Keep in touch!