Sustainability at UIST 2020
UIST 2020 is committed to making the conference as sustainable as possible—from both social and environmental perspectives. Climate change due to human emissions of greenhouse gases is an urgent threat, and one which requires massive efforts at every level of society. We aim to champion environmental sustainability, specifically:
- Inform and help develop policy to promote more sustainable procurement, reduce travel, reduce waste, lower the environmental impacts of food choices, and lower direct and embodied energy demands;
- Collect data to track the environmental impact of the conference and enable annual comparison of conference choices;
- Support the general chairs in embedding sustainable decision making into the conference and its organisation.
Sustainability Goals:
This year, we are planning a variety of sustainable initiatives that will reduce the environmental impact of the conference:
- Carbon Offsetting: When registering for the conference you will have the opportunity to offset the carbon required for you to attend the conference by supporting projects that verifiably reduce the amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere. Examples of these projects include: updating equipment in factories to be cleaner, providing more efficient stoves that reduce the amount of energy required to cook, or developing alternative energy sources such as wind power plants. These projects counterbalance the carbon impact of UIST in a way that is feasible for our community at this moment.
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Reduction of Single Use Materials: We aim to reduce use of single use plastics and hard to recycle paper in the following areas (but not limited to):
- Badges;
- Bags and other swag;
- Student volunteer t-shirts; and
- Catering (food and drink).
- Collect Data and Community Feedback: To understand the conference’s environmental impact, we will collect data on energy usage and waste, which will enable us to make informed decisions for future conferences. We are also aiming to engage with the community to gain feedback on environmental and social sustainability issues, and how we can tackle these as a collective.
- Blog Posts We will update this page with a series of blog posts over the coming months with guidance on how you, personally, can minimise your own personal environmental impact during the conference.
You can reach out to the sustainability chairs directly about the topics discussed here, or any other topics, at sustainability2020@uist.org.