I think this is perfectly do-able, and something that the fsf should look in to, after all it would show we are forward thinking.
At a local level we can branch off to work on local issues, after watching and learning form each other, share local experiences etc.
I joined the DebianAcademy team back in November and am also working on trying to set up a study support group for those who are distance learning
https://personaljournal.ca/studysupportgroup/So like you suggest here, we need to perhaps decentralised and still get the benefits of working and being able to talk and learn from each other.
LibrePlanet also proves we can do this with free and open source software, DebConf is also virtual this year, so again they are doing the same.
Paul On 04/04/2021 16:27, Aaron Wolf wrote:
FWIW, among other family issues, I have myself felt uncomfortable with the prospect of flying to conferences for exactly this reason. The stats on the environmental significance of flying are overwhelming. I saw something like a flight within the U.S. 48-states being comparable to 8 months of average driving. I also heard a good argument that the *enemies* of a healthy, free, sustainable society (such as the developers of the worst and most abusive proprietary software and also the people behind the most polluting industries) are continuing to fly all over and do everything they can to retain *their* solidarity and businesses. I do not believe in fighting fire with fire. I do not believe two wrongs make a right. But I do believe that we should take a consequentialist or utilitarian approach that is thinking in the long-term. If (and maybe only if) activists flying to get together is part of what makes enough difference to a movement that it really has more impact, it will be worth it. If 500 plane trips happen and the connections they support lead to stripping away the power of the oligarchs who block society from becoming truly sustainable, then it could be worth it. But maybe a small number of people can do global-reach in-person conferences that bring together effectively representatives of more localized conferences that don't involve flying. Here's a suggestion: how about an organized global LibrePlanet where a smaller gathering is held in every large city in the world. People from the region of each city will gather, have valuable in-person connections, and efforts will be made to all engage together. Every local gathering will watch a keynote presentation and so on. We should be conscious of the impacts and costs of our choices, but we should also not sacrifice our effectiveness as a movement. In harmony, Aaron Wolf On 2021-04-04 12:33 a.m., Paul Sutton via libreplanet-discuss wrote:On 04/04/2021 03:54, Thomas Lord wrote:Good programmers inevitably learn, somewhere along the way, the following lesson: When you encounter a very hard problem to solve, don't spend all your time just on the problem. Also question whether it really needs to be solved - or if a better approach avoids the problem in the first place. Libre Planet is built on the following intolerable premise: People should fly from around the world to Boston, once a year, to connect free software activists and enthusiasts in a social setting conducive to sharing presentations, meeting, and having informal discussions. Only one part of that premise is no longer tolerable, at all, in 2021: the travel it requires. Air travel is, with perhaps very rare exceptions, wildly, intolerably socially irresponsible. The rateatwhich fossil fuel emissions must now fall is so rapid, it not compatible with widespread air travel, and it is not compatible with current levels of energy demand.This same problem, in addition to the
pandemic's discouragement of
large "meatspace" conferences, effects not only Libre Planet, buteveryone on the planet. Few are
no fly-in conferences are anything
but extremely irresponsible in 2021. It's just a fact. Image It will be hard to replace the Libre Planet conference but perhaps not *too* hard 64Good programmers inevitably learn, somewhere along the way, the following lesson: When you encounter a very hard problem to solve, don't spend all your time just on the problem. Also question whether it really needs to be solved - or if a better approach avoids the problem in the first place. Libre Planet is built on the following intolerable premise: People should fly from around the world to Boston, once a year, to connect free software activists and enthusiasts in a social setting conducive to sharing presentations, meeting, and having informal discussions. Only one part of that premise is no longer tolerable, at all, in 2021: the travel it requires. Air travel is, with perhaps very rare exceptions, wildly, intolerably socially irresponsible. The rateatwhich fossil fuel emissions must now fall is so rapid, it not compatible with widespread air travel, and it is not compatible with current levels of energy demand.This same problem, in addition to the
pandemic's discouragement of
large "meatspace" conferences, effects not only Libre Planet, buteveryone on the planet. Few are
no fly-in conferences are anything
but extremely irresponsible in 2021. It's just a fact. It will be hard to replace the Libre Planet conference but perhaps not *too* hard. We have software like jitsi. We have telephony systems. So forth. Perhaps Libre Planet should evolve into an annual "big event" onlinebut also an ongoing series of smaller
online events. I don't
know. People with a clearer picture of the needs should discuss that. For now, it is enough to say that a conference premised on air-travel is in and of itself an astonishing anti-social proposition in 2021, and from now on. Of course online conferences also need behavioral guidelines, but there is no point squabbling over those until we begin to have some permanent online conference infrastructure in place. And until that infrastructure is in place, Libre Planet should do the right thing andtake no further steps that would
encourage air travel.
-tThis appears to be more of a 'environmental' argument rather than a code of conduct argument. But some good points are raised. That aside, I think there is an element of meeting old / new friends at conferences, the positive relationships that form and opportunities that arise out of this can in some cases outweigh even the best conference speech.The pandemic has caused a lot of problems, in terms of isolation
and
mental health which has resulted by isolation. People want to get back out and the human instinct is to be in groups. I think there is scope for hybrid conferences, but it would be nice to fly over. If that isn't possible then what we have virtually works really well, so lets find ways to stream live conference talks at events. Don't forget also that conferences are really valuable to local economies, people using hotels, visiting local shops, cafes bars, restaurants give local economies a real boost and esp when many have hadto close for a year. Without this these places would
close, jobs
would be lost. If I fly over to Libreplanet in Boston from
the UK, I
would probably want to stay for a week, see the sighgts around boston.
I
would guess others would look to do the same. We get together in huge numbers to watch sport (e.g football, soccer baseball, etc) is that any different I think you raise some good points, perhaps one topic could be sustainable travel , and we can find ways to get more public transport running on sustainable fuels for example, get software to help with ticketing as free software for example. Paul _______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss_______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
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