The Fear of Not Flying: Achieving Sustainable Academic Plane Travel in Higher Education Based on Insights from South Australia

Abstract

Universities are both disseminators and producers of the climate knowledge needed to institute the social and cultural change required for climate adaptation and mitigation to occur. They also have the opportunity to lead and model pro-environmental behavior, yet often have large carbon budgets, partly caused by staff travel. This paper explores this topic via an institutional case study of what factors motivate the academic community to undertake plane travel and the implications this has for wielding wider societal influence in terms of pro-environmental behavior. We report on a year-long qualitative social science study of academic plane travel at the University of Adelaide, South Australia where we investigated the tension between academic requirements to travel and the institution’s formal commitment to sustainability within the Campus Sustainability Plan. We found that, while many academics were worried about climate change, very few were willing to change their current practice and travel less because they are not institutionally incentivized to do so. There is a fear of not flying: plane travel is perceived as a key driver for career progression and this is an ongoing barrier to pro-environmental behavior. We conclude that institutional and political change will be required for individual change to occur and sustainable agendas to be met within academic communities.

Cognitive Dissonance in Sustainability Scientists Regarding Air Travel for Academic Purposes: A Qualitative Study

“…Almost every interviewee expressed feelings of dissonance. Whereas feelings of guilt in relation to flying have been previously documented [2,[8][9][10]18,25,39], feelings of frustration relating to the topic, which were common here, have not previously been documented. This matters not only per se, but because the specific affective state may influence the adoption of a particular mode of dissonance reduction [23].…”

“…Moreover, as social role models, their behavior may influence others' intentions to change their own behavior [11,12]. Finally, in terms of the rationale of the study, although there is research concerning the institutional factors that hinder reductions in academic air travel [11,[13][14][15][16][17], research concerning individual-level processes relating to flight reduction is scant [9,18].A variety of individual-level theories are available for helping to explain attitude-behavior gaps. Here we use the theory of cognitive dissonance, as it is arguably the most specifically applicable approach for understanding dissonance per se.…”

Travel-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions from American Society of Landscape Architects Annual Meetings

“…Study results challenge perceived benefits of conference attendance. University faculty respondents in one study rated conference presentations as the most important reason to travel by air, followed by conference attendance and networking, which were rated equally (Nursey-Bray et al, 2019). Ninety-five percent of respondents thought air travel would contribute to a promotion (Nursey-Bray et al, 2019).…”

Scientists should explore alternatives to flying

“…To this end, besides critically reconsidering our personal tradeoff between scientific needs and climate impact, we need to push institutions and companies, but also funding agencies and scientific societies, to implement sustainable travelling policies taking into account the CO 2 emissions. Our personal responsibility needs a framework that no longer sanctions, but promotes the right choices 2 . We shouldn't take the status quo of science communication as a natural law, but as in a state of continuous change.…”