scholarly journals Shifting away from the business-as-usual approach to research conferences

Biology Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. bio056705
Author(s):  
Chelsie W. W. Counsell ◽  
Franziska Elmer ◽  
Judith C. Lang
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Usual Approach ◽  
Research Conference ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Available Technology ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
Climate Crisis

ABSTRACTTo combat the climate crisis, we need rapid, unprecedented social change. Scientists can play a lead role by signaling to society that we recognize the critical importance of redesigning our business-as-usual approach to research conferences. Traditional research conferences have high CO2 emissions as well as significant financial and travel time costs for participants. Using available technology, early career scientists Chelsie Counsell and Franziska Elmer created a global, virtual, coral reef research conference with live talks, recorded contributions, and networking events. Funding from The Company of Biologists allowed this event to be free, supporting attendance of 2700 subscribers and content contributions from 165 participants from diverse backgrounds and career stages. We provide metrics on content viewership and participation in networking activities, note the success of incorporating regionally focused sub-events, and discuss the emergence of a collaborative research project. We highlight the broad accessibility of virtual conferences as well as their increased flexibility in programming, health benefits, and cost savings. Our approach to organizing and hosting a global, low-carbon emission research conference is documented. Finally, we propose a hybrid approach to future conferences with virtually connected remote (sub-regional or local) hubs.

A Tool for Designing Policy Packages To Achieve India’s Climate Targets: Methods, Data, and Reference Scenario of the India Energy Policy Simulator

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepthi Swamy ◽  
Apurba Mitra ◽  
Varun Agarwal ◽  
Megan Mahajan ◽  
Robbie Orvis
Keyword(s):  
Energy Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Technical Note ◽  
Reference Scenario ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Climate Targets ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Business As Usual

India is currently the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) after China and the United States and is set to experience continued growth in its population, economy, and energy consumption. Exploring low-carbon development pathways for India is therefore crucial for achieving the goal of global decarbonization. India has pledged to reduce the emission intensity of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 33–35 per cent relative to 2005 levels by 2030 through its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), among other related targets for the renewable energy and forestry sectors. Further, countries, including India, are expected to respond to the invitation of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Paris Agreement to communicate new or updated NDCs with enhanced ambition and long-term low-GHG development strategies for 2050. To design effective policy packages to support the planning and achievement of such climate targets, policymakers need to identify policies that can reduce GHG emissions in a timely and cost-effective manner, while meeting development-related and other national objectives. The India Energy Policy Simulator (India EPS), an open-source, system dynamics model, can enable an integrated quantitative assessment of different cross-sectoral climate policy packages for India through 2050 and their implications for key variables of interest such as emissions, GDP, and jobs. The tool was developed by Energy Innovation LLC and adapted for India in partnership with World Resources Institute. It is available for open access through a Web interface as well as a downloadable application. This technical note describes the structure, input data sources, assumptions, and limitations of the India EPS, as well as the setup and key results of its reference scenario, referred to as the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario in the model. It is intended as an update to the first technical note on the India EPS (Mangan et al. 2019) and accounts for the changes incorporated into the model since the first version.

How to Lead Low-Carbon City Construction Development by Low Carbon Ideology

2012 ◽  
Vol 174-177 ◽  
pp. 3202-3206
Author(s):  
Xiao Li Fan
Keyword(s):  
Space Structure ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
City Development ◽  
Development Mode ◽  
Growing Period ◽  
Architecture Framework ◽  
City Construction ◽  
Low Carbon City ◽  
Climate Crisis

Climate crisis has become the main concern of International community. China is undergoing the quick growing period of urbanization. The fast urbanization inevitably encountered a lot of problems and defects. Our carbon emission occupy more and more percentage of the whole world. To change the traditional way of constructing activity and work towards low-carbon city development mode is the most important task of China city development. From the causes of low carbon cities construction and its significance, this essay focuses on the space structure, traffic mode, land use and landscape architecture framework of constructing a low-carbon city. Low carbon urban construction planning is also presented.

scholarly journals Revisiting the Psychology of Denial Concerning Low-Carbon Behaviors: From Moral Disengagement to Generating Social Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Stoll-Kleemann ◽  
Tim O’Riordan
Keyword(s):  
Role Models ◽  
Moral Disengagement ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
High Carbon ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Behavioral Transformations

This paper reassesses the scope for shifting high-carbon personal behaviors in the light of prevailing insufficient political and regulatory action. Our previous research has shown that citizens regard such behavioral shifts as extremely daunting and create a number of psychological denial mechanisms that draw attention to the inaction of others, including governments. Further theoretical insights and relevant new findings have been attained from a more recent survey of more than 1000 German residents. This reveals that direct denial of anthropogenic climate change is replaced by a denial of responsibility for individual climate action. Ways of moral disengagement play a more dominant role, such as the diffusion and displacement of responsibility, although a majority is aware of—and very much concerned about—the climate crisis. More attention needs to be given for further reinterpretation of the role of moral disengagement to single out adequate strategies for different individuals and groups of people, such as making role models more visible to encourage social learning that could accelerate further necessary moral and behavioral transformations.

scholarly journals Better transport accessibility, better health: a health economic impact assessment study for Melbourne, Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Brown ◽  
Alison Barr ◽  
Jan Scheurer ◽  
Anne Magnus ◽  
Belen Zapata-Diomedi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Body Weight ◽  
Healthcare Cost ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Absolute Difference ◽  
Current Policy ◽  
Transport Accessibility ◽  
Business As Usual

Abstract Background Physical inactivity is a global public health problem, partly due to urbanization and increased use of passive modes of transport such as private motor vehicles. Improving accessibility to public transport could be an effective policy for Governments to promote equity and efficiency within transportation systems, increase population levels of physical activity and reduce the negative externalities of motor vehicle use. Quantitative estimates of the health impacts of improvements to public transport accessibility may be useful for resource allocation and priority-setting, however few studies have been published to inform this decision-making. This paper aims to estimate the physical activity, obesity, injury, health and healthcare cost-saving outcomes of scenario-based improvements to public transport accessibility in Melbourne, Australia. Methods Baseline and two hypothetical future scenario estimates of improved public transport accessibility for Melbourne, Australia, were derived using a spatial planning and decision tool designed to simulate accessibility performance (the Spatial Network Analysis for Multimodal Urban Transport Systems (SNAMUTS)). Public transport related physical activity was quantified by strata of age group and sex from Melbourne travel survey data (VISTA survey) and used with the SNAMUTS Composite Index to estimate input data for health impact modelling for the Melbourne population aged 20–74 years. A proportional multi-state, multiple cohort lifetable Markov model quantified the potential health gains and healthcare cost-savings from estimated changes in physical activity, body weight and injuries related to walking to access/egress public transport under two scenarios: (S1) public transport accessibility under current policy directions, and (S2) multi-directional, high-frequency network improvements. Results Multi-directional, high-frequency improvements to the public transport network (S2) resulted in significantly greater health and economic gains than current policy directions (S1) in relation to physical activity (mean 6.4 more MET minutes/week), body weight (mean 0.05 kg differential), health-adjusted life years gained (absolute difference of 4878 HALYs gained) and healthcare cost-savings (absolute difference of AUD43M), as compared to business as usual under both scenarios (n = 2,832,241 adults, over the lifecourse). Conclusions Based on our conservative analyses, improving accessibility to public transport will improve population health by facilitating physical activity and lead to healthcare cost savings compared with business-as-usual. These wider health benefits should be better considered in transport planning and policy decisions.

scholarly journals Technology: Increasing Citizen Engagement and Access to Information

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Reed
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Usual Approach ◽  
Dog Food ◽  
Government Leader ◽  
Business As Usual

The greater potential for engagement is enabling citizens to build new services on top of government systems, and to analyze the same data that government maintains for its internal use. This lets citizens not only comment to government, but co-produce government. To enable this, government leaders should:* Welcome the Civic Hackers - Local government leaders have had some notable successes cooperating with civic hackers to leapfrog the business-as-usual approach of government and its contractors.* Eat Your Own Dog Food - When a government leader makes her agency’s databases shareable with citizens, this will also make the databases more reliable for the agency.* Don’t Panic about Guerrilla Government - Technology is making off-the-clock engagement by government employees both inevitable and productive.Related informatoin is at www.PubAdmin.org

scholarly journals Economic Cascades and the Costs of a Business-as-Usual Approach to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Roopnarine ◽  
David Goodwin ◽  
Maricela Abarca ◽  
Joseph Russack
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Usual Approach ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
The Impact

Shelter-in-place policies and the closure of non-essential workplaces intended to disrupt transmission of the SARS-COV-2 virus are effective approaches to combating COVID-19. They have, however, caused record levels of unemployment in the United States, raising questions of whether mitigation is more societally damaging than the disease. Here we use a coupled epidemiological-economic model to estimate the impact on employment of an unmitigated, business-as-usual approach to the pandemic. We compared unemployment between March-August 2020 in ten Californian socio-economic systems (SESs) to unemployment forecast by a model of industrial sector inter-dependencies subjected to unmitigated outbreaks of COVID-19. We found that economic losses are unavoidable because disease-driven losses propagate economically through SESs, amplifying losses to the disease. While model forecasts are generally lower than actual unemployment, jobs savings would come at the cost of greatly increased worker mortality. The costs would also be disproportionately greater among smaller and inland SESs.

scholarly journals ‘It’s the soft stuff that’s hard’: Investigating the role played by low carbon small- and medium-sized enterprise advisors in sustainability transitions

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Hampton
Keyword(s):  
Cost Savings ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Business Support ◽  
Regional Basis ◽  
Energy Audits ◽  
The Uk

Significant public funds are invested in low carbon advisors to support small- and medium-sized enterprises to reduce carbon emissions on a regional basis. Little research has been conducted on their experiences and practices, nor their place within the context of local business support policy. Findings draw on interviews with 19 advisors in the UK as well as the author’s four years’ experience as an environmentally focused business support practitioner. Establishing and sustaining engagements with small- and medium-sized enterprises on the topic of pro-environmental behaviours is a multifaceted problem. Advisors typically approach businesses with promises of cost savings rather than using environmental messaging and focus their resources on the provision of building energy audits and technical advice. Advisors rarely engage small- and medium-sized enterprises in values-based discussions or by seeking to understand how and why energy is used in the course of everyday business practices. The paper argues that face-to-face meetings could be better utilised if ‘softer’ skills were deployed alongside technical expertise. It discusses the limitations of growth-focused support in the context of environmental objectives and calls for a shift in the culture of advice-giving, supported by social scientifically informed policy.

From “business as usual” to tackling climate change: Exploring factors affecting low-carbon decision-making in the canadian oil and gas sector

Energy Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 111932
Author(s):  
Mônica Cavalcanti Sá de Abreu ◽  
Kernaghan Webb ◽  
Francisco Sávio Maurício Araújo ◽  
Jaime Phasquinel Lopes Cavalcante
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
Oil And Gas Sector
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