I’m a reader in philosophy at the University of East Anglia and chair of the environmental think tank, Green House. As an academic specialising in Wittgenstein, there are many international conferences that are part of my job to attend. Over the last decade I have made increasing efforts to fly only as a last resort. Last summer I traveled across Europe by train to give talks in the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. During this trip I also video-called into a conference in Canada where I was invited to give a talk.

To avoid flying as a philosophy academic we need a culture shift towards video conferencing. I’m always surprised at both how open conference organisers are to hosting me via video, and at how few of them have considered sending video rather than in-person invitations. Hopefully initiatives like this will raise awareness.