Re: easy CoC solution: permanently end in-person conference

[Aaron Wolf]

FWIW, among other family issues, I have myself felt uncomfortable with
the prospect of flying to conferences for exactly this reason. The stats
on the environmental significance of flying are overwhelming. I saw
something like a flight within the U.S. 48-states being comparable to 8
months of average driving.

I also heard a good argument that the *enemies* of a healthy, free,
sustainable society (such as the developers of the worst and most
abusive proprietary software and also the people behind the most
polluting industries) are continuing to fly all over and do everything
they can to retain *their* solidarity and businesses.

I do not believe in fighting fire with fire. I do not believe two wrongs
make a right. But I do believe that we should take a consequentialist or
utilitarian approach that is thinking in the long-term. If (and maybe
only if) activists flying to get together is part of what makes enough
difference to a movement that it really has more impact, it will be
worth it.

If 500 plane trips happen and the connections they support lead to
stripping away the power of the oligarchs who block society from
becoming truly sustainable, then it could be worth it.

But maybe a small number of people can do global-reach in-person
conferences that bring together effectively representatives of more
localized conferences that don't involve flying.

Here's a suggestion: how about an organized global LibrePlanet where a
smaller gathering is held in every large city in the world. People from
the region of each city will gather, have valuable in-person
connections, and efforts will be made to all engage together. Every
local gathering will watch a keynote presentation and so on.

We should be conscious of the impacts and costs of our choices, but we
should also not sacrifice our effectiveness as a movement.

In harmony,
Aaron Wolf

On 2021-04-04 12:33 a.m., Paul Sutton via libreplanet-discuss wrote:
> 
> 
> On 04/04/2021 03:54, Thomas Lord wrote:
>>       Good programmers inevitably learn, somewhere along the way, the
>>       following lesson:
>>       When you encounter a very hard problem to solve, don't spend all
>>       your time just on the problem.  Also question whether it really
>>       needs to be solved - or if a better approach avoids the problem in
>>       the first place.
>>       Libre Planet is built on the following intolerable premise: People
>>       should fly from around the world to Boston, once a year, to connect
>>       free software activists and enthusiasts in a social setting
>>       conducive to sharing presentations, meeting, and having informal
>>       discussions.
>>       Only one part of that premise is no longer tolerable, at all, in
>>       2021: the travel it requires.  Air travel is, with perhaps very
>> rare
>>       exceptions, wildly, intolerably socially irresponsible.  The rate 
> at
>>       which fossil fuel emissions must now fall is so rapid, it not
>>       compatible with widespread air travel, and it is not compatible
>> with
>>       current levels of energy demand.
>>       This same problem, in addition to the pandemic's discouragement of
>>       large "meatspace" conferences, effects not only Libre Planet, but
>>       everyone on the planet.  Few are no fly-in conferences are anything
>>       but extremely irresponsible in 2021.  It's just a fact.
>>
>>     Image
>>
>>       It will be hard to replace the Libre Planet conference but perhaps
>>       not *too* hard 64Good programmers inevitably learn, somewhere along
>>       the way, the following lesson:
>>       When you encounter a very hard problem to solve, don't spend all
>>       your time just on the problem.  Also question whether it really
>>       needs to be solved - or if a better approach avoids the problem in
>>       the first place.
>>       Libre Planet is built on the following intolerable premise: People
>>       should fly from around the world to Boston, once a year, to connect
>>       free software activists and enthusiasts in a social setting
>>       conducive to sharing presentations, meeting, and having informal
>>       discussions.
>>       Only one part of that premise is no longer tolerable, at all, in
>>       2021: the travel it requires.  Air travel is, with perhaps very
>> rare
>>       exceptions, wildly, intolerably socially irresponsible.  The rate 
> at
>>       which fossil fuel emissions must now fall is so rapid, it not
>>       compatible with widespread air travel, and it is not compatible
>> with
>>       current levels of energy demand.
>>       This same problem, in addition to the pandemic's discouragement of
>>       large "meatspace" conferences, effects not only Libre Planet, but
>>       everyone on the planet.  Few are no fly-in conferences are anything
>>       but extremely irresponsible in 2021.  It's just a fact.
>>       It will be hard to replace the Libre Planet conference but perhaps
>>       not *too* hard.  We have software like jitsi.  We have telephony
>>     systems.
>>       So forth.
>>       Perhaps Libre Planet should evolve into an annual "big event"
>> online
>>       but also an ongoing series of smaller online events.   I don't
>> know.
>>       People with a clearer picture of the needs should discuss that.
>>       For now, it is enough to say that a conference premised on
>> air-travel
>>       is in and of itself an astonishing anti-social proposition in 2021,
>>     and
>>       from now on.
>>       Of course online conferences also need behavioral guidelines, but
>>       there is no point squabbling over those until we begin to have some
>>       permanent online conference infrastructure in place.  And until
>> that
>>       infrastructure is in place, Libre Planet should do the right thing
>>     and
>>       take no further steps that would  encourage air travel.
>>
>>     -t
> 
> This appears to be more of a 'environmental' argument rather than a code
> of conduct argument.   But some good points are raised.
> 
> That aside, I think there is an element of meeting old / new friends at
> conferences, the positive relationships that form and opportunities that
> arise out of this can in some cases outweigh even the best conference
> speech.
> 
> The pandemic has caused a lot of problems,  in terms of isolation and
> mental health which has resulted by isolation.  People want to get back
> out and the human instinct is to be in groups.
> 
> I think there is scope for hybrid conferences,  but it would be nice to
> fly over.   If that isn't possible then what we have virtually works
> really well, so lets find ways to stream live conference talks at events.
> 
> Don't forget also that conferences are really valuable to local
> economies,  people using hotels,  visiting local shops, cafes bars,
> restaurants give local economies a real boost and esp when many have had
> to close for a year.    Without this these places would close, jobs
> would be lost.   If I fly over to Libreplanet in Boston from the UK, I
> would probably want to stay for a week, see the sighgts around boston. I
> would guess others  would look to do the same.
> 
> We get together in huge numbers to watch sport (e.g football, soccer
> baseball, etc) is that any different
> 
> I think you raise some good points, perhaps one topic could be
> sustainable travel , and we can find ways to get more public transport
> running on sustainable fuels for example, get software to help with
> ticketing as free software for example.
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> 
> 
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