My current carbon footprint (calculated by http://www.carbonzero.ca/calculate): I emit about 8 tonnes due to science-related travel (conferences and field work). This is equivalent to my CO2 emissions due to food and consumables, and my family’s CO2 emissions due to transportation and heating combined.
As I prefer to eat beef from time to time, I have chosen to reduce my scientific travel by contracting out field work to locals and communicating with scientists by phone/email/Skype. This is a personal choice.
I am a hydrologist. For some years now I have worked on reducing uncertainty in climate projections. This work is motivating, but seems to be asymmetric if I don’t actually reduce the projected changes themselves.