Brian,

Just to add to the discussion, you have to wonder about the footprint of
the all the politicians and their entourages who are criss-crossing the
country daily in jet airliners all the while saying how they're going to
reduce greenhouse gases and address global warming....yada-yada-yada.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: EnviroNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brian Ellis
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 7:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [EN] Is information dissemination environmentally-friendly?

It seems that hardly a week goes by without the IPC advertising some
meeting, conference, exhibition or other event (webcasts excluded). Then
there are others sponsored by other organisations.

These most frequently involve travelling and lodging in hotels, neither
of which are without a severe impact on the environment. It would be an
  interesting calculation to work out the no. of kg of CO2 emitted for
attendees of these events just to be there.

The figure must average in the hundreds of kg/delegate, if not more. Is
there any way to reduce this, e.g., more Internet conferences, seminars
equipment demos, one-on-one discussions etc???

Just a thought with oil at $150/bbl to spice the discussion.

Brian