By Climate and Sustainability Affinity Committee
Planning to attend AASLH 2021 in Little Rock?
Tracking travel emissions is the first step toward documenting the carbon footprint of this AASLH annual conference.
Several calculators exist:
- Conservation International’s calculator can be used for a household, an event or a single trip. Then you can buy the offset right there.
- Climate Neutral Now is for organizations but the individual calculator is coming soon. It is a UN-aligned calculator and offset platform.
The Climate and Sustainability Affinity Committee encourages in-person participants to reduce their carbon emissions and offset what they cannot eliminate.
You can reduce emissions by sharing travel with others through carpooling, taking AMTRAK, or renting an electric or hybrid vehicle.
If you cannot reduce emissions by sharing, you can offset emissions from your flight or car rental.
If you know your options before booking, you can select the best green flight option at the time of purchase. Compare airlines flying into Clinton National Airport (Little Rock) including: American Airlines, Delta, and United. You can also compare rates for flights using FlyGreen to include airlines, i.e., Allegiant, Southwest, and Frontier, and realize your offsetting goals. While offsetting carbon emissions rather than eliminating them is controversial, these choices are amongst the most viable at present.
You can explore offset options with rental car companies, too, including Alamo, Enterprise, National and Hertz, or you can rent a hybrid or electric vehicle. Note that the conference headquarters (Statehouse Convention Center) has one charging station and the conference hotel (Little Rock Marriott) has none, but use apps like ChargeHub and EVstationslocal to find charging stations nearby in Little Rock.
A separate process involves articulating and valuing the benefits of attending the conference, in person.
These data, combined with further inventorying of Stream 1, 2, and 3 emissions, will help us turn professional travel choices into climate-conscious activity.
Shout about your climate choices with @AASLH, #OffsetAASLH, #AASLH2021. Post your carbon footprint and your offset choices and engage with others doing the same.
Stay tuned for more from the Climate and Sustainability Affinity Committee as it engages with attendees to collect data that will help AASLH plan for our future.