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A climate researcher who has refused to travel by air unless absolutely necessary was fired from his post at a German think tank after he declined to fly back to Europe on short notice for environmental reasons.
Gianluca Grimalda was, until recently, a social scientist at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Kiel, Germany. He first set out on a research trip about the social impacts of climate change in February, traveling to the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea via a combination of cargo ship, ferry, train and bus. The trip took 35 days rather than about two it would have taken via aircraft, but Grimalda has for 10 years avoided air travel when other, lower carbon methods are available.
(He did take two flights when there were no other options available.)
He had been planning to return to Germany this month in a similar manner known as “slow travel,” setting off from the country on a cargo ship. The trip will take Grimalda about 50 days, but come with a significantly lower carbon cost. The researcher estimates a plane would spout about 5.3 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per passenger.
His method: Just 420 kilograms, about 1/12th the amount.
But his employer told him on Sept. 27 he had just five days to return, and terminated his research contract this week after he failed to do so. He had been employed there since 2013.
“The urgency of their request to return meant I would have to jump on a plane if I was to meet the deadline; but for me, this was not an option,” he wrote in an editorial in The Guardian. “I have been practicing conscientious objection to flying for more than 10 years.”
The Kiel Institute refused to comment on personnel matters in a statement to The New York Times, and said it had supported Grimalda’s slow travel plans in the past.
Commercial air travel accounts for about 3% of carbon emissions worldwide and remains a significant driver of climate change. Many nations agreed last year to work toward net-zero emissions for the industry by 2050, but scientists have long warned the planet is on a collision course with a host of climate-related ills, even with current pledges to rein in carbon emissions.
“The move from fossil fuels to renewables is happening ― but we are decades behind,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said last month, adding humanity had “opened the gates to hell.”
“We must make up time lost to foot-dragging, arm-twisting and the naked greed of entrenched interests raking in billions from fossil fuels,” he said.
Grimalda told The Guardian he plans to appeal the decision to fire him, noting that his employer had recognized his travel in the past as days of work. He challenged those living in rich nations to consider how personal decisions could help shift dialogue around the impact of personal carbon emissions.
“Worldwide, flying remains the prerogative of the elite — researchers from western countries included, who are likely part of the 10% producing the bulk of emissions,” he wrote this week. “But empirical research shows that ‘walking the walk’ is important.”
“When I arrive in Europe in about 45 days, I will be jobless,” he concluded. “If, on my way, I manage to persuade people that our planet is seriously endangered and that radical, extraordinary action is needed, losing my job will have been a price worth paying.”
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