G. RE-EVALUATION COUNSELING WORKSHOPS
G.12. Considering the Carbon Footprint of RC Workshops
If a significant number of participants would be driving long distances or flying to a workshop, the leaders should consider holding that workshop online (and/or having Hybrid or Satellite options) instead of in-person. Workshops to which few people are driving long distances or flying could be held in person.
Pre-World and World Conferences will be in person whenever possible. Constituency workshops should also consider meeting in-person occasionally.
REASON
We are in a climate emergency. “We in the RC Community commit ourselves to encouraging and supporting every one of us to act against and discharge any distress that might keep us from playing an active role, as large and radical as necessary, to resolve the climate emergency.” Unified Goal on the Climate, 2022. Most solutions will involve transformative changes in our society (for example, ending the use of fossil fuel for energy). Individual and organizational action is also necessary.
The RC Community is international in scope. Its carbon footprint is largely due to people traveling to and from workshops. Aviation and car emissions contribute significantly to climate change. Online, Hybrid, and Satellite workshops greatly reduce our carbon footprint.
Online workshops lack an optimum level of personal contact and connection but can work well in many ways. They can substitute for workshops that would require too many participants to drive long distances or fly. In-person workshops with their personal contact and informal information exchange should be organized when they would have a small carbon footprint. Major conferences at which personal contact is particularly important and where there are many discussion groups, should be in-person if possible. Examples are the Pre-World and World Conferences. Online, Hybrid, and Satellite workshops greatly increase global access to our workshops and cost much less than in-person workshops.