It would be more meaningful to derive a net value to the world ecosystem due to such travel, but that is not easily amenable to calculation. However it is probably more positive than your regular punter's vacation in the Caribbean. Cheers, Peter
-----Original Message----- From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Fæ Sent: 20 September 2019 15:47 To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation joins the global climate strike
Except, that's probably not statistically true.
If the management team is responsible for 50% of air travel, then the figures from the environmental impact survey indicate that amounts to 15% of the entire contribution to CO2 emissions for the WMF. However you reframe or spin the WSJ article, the CEO spending 200 days on the road last year, rather than, say, cutting that number in half by using the telephone or other virtual conferencing technology, must be a significant factor in those numbers.
The contribution actually is higher than that, as the impact made from the published impact from WMF use of hotels, probably pushes that 15% figure to over 20%.
It's simple maths, not rocket science. Of course if real firm figures about air travel by the management team were published by the WMF, rather than estimates, we could start calculating the impact of specific year on year improvement, rather than relying on high level statements about the aims for the current year and end of year "good news" selective summaries of how well everyone has done. Facts and measurable commitments would be super useful, rather than sensationalism, as you agree.
Thanks Fae
On Fri, 20 Sep 2019 at 14:28, Adrian Raddatz ajraddatz@gmail.com wrote:
I'm more interested in the numbers for the WMF as a whole. One CEO does not make an emissions problem, and in a global-reaching organization I'd hope that the CEO would be flying around a bit. Focusing on the ten or so executives at the Foundation seems like a sensational approach rather than a useful one.
Adrian
On Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 9:24 AM Fæ faewik@gmail.com wrote:
Nice to see that https://wikimediafoundation.org has a banner linking to the global climate strike today.
Can anyone produce some verifiable metrics that the WMF has taken significant action to reduce the total number of aircraft flights the WMF uses?
I am asking as though there are no transparently published figures for how much the WMF spends on air travel, I recall that the Katherine Mahler was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, where is was part of her impressive executive profile to be "on the road" for 200 days of the year. This probably puts Katherine in the very top numbers for CEOs with damaging carbon footprints resulting from travelling so often by flying.[1] If the WMF wants to be seen as an ethical company when it comes to reducing their organizational impact on climate change, perhaps this could start with publishing travel figures for the CEO and the rest of the management team, so that everyone can see whether there is year on year improvement, or none.
Thanks again for the banner, it does help increase the sense of urgency.
Links:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-35-year-old-executive-director-of-wikim...
Fae
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