Abstract
AbstractIn a world of increasing awareness of the many drivers of anthropogenic climate change, all of which fall under the larger rubric of global capitalism with its emphasis on profit-making, economic growth, and a strong dependence on fossil fuels, many universities, particularly in developed societies, have proclaimed a staunch commitment to the notion of environmental sustainability. Conversely, the growing emphasis on internationalisation of higher education, particularly in Australia, entails a considerable amount of air travel on the part of university staff, particularly academics but also support staff, and overseas students and occasionally domestic students. Australia is a generally highly affluent country which is situated in the driest inhabited continent and increasingly finds itself functioning as a “canary the coal mine” with respect to the ravages of anthropogenic climate change. Ironically, climate scientists and other observers often refer to various regions, such as the Arctic, low-lying islands, the Andes, and Bangladesh, inhabited by indigenous and peasant peoples as the canaries in the coalmines when it comes to the adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change. It is often said that those people who have contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions are the ones suffering the most from climate change, a more than accurate observation.
Highlights
In a world of increasing awareness of the many drivers of anthropogenic climate change, all of which fall under the larger rubric of global capitalism with its emphasis on profit-making, economic growth, and a strong dependence on fossil fuels, many universities, in developed societies, have proclaimed a staunch commitment to the notion of environmental sustainability
New Zealand academics situated across the Tasman Sea are even more impacted by the ‘tyranny of distance’ than their Australian counterparts with New Zealand universities subscribing to the rhetoric of international connectivity while at the same time espousing a commitment to environmental sustainability (Hopkins et al, 2016)
As in many areas of a stratified world system, the affluent, business people and politicians and even well-placed academics and university students, as opposed to casual academics who constitute a component of the precariat, contribute much more overall to greenhouse emissions from flights than working-class people and the poor around the world
Summary
In a world of increasing awareness of the many drivers of anthropogenic climate change, all of which fall under the larger rubric of global capitalism with its emphasis on profit-making, economic growth, and a strong dependence on fossil fuels, many universities, in developed societies, have proclaimed a staunch commitment to the notion of environmental sustainability. The third model is eco-socialism which seeks to function as part and parcel of a growing international movement seeking to promote a socially just, deeply democratic, and environmentally sustainable world system Adherents of this model by and large operate on the margins of the Australian society but include eco-socialists within the Green Party and members of various eco-socialist groups who consider themselves in solidarity with climate justice activists, in contrast to climate activists per se, who call for ‘system change, not climate change.’. The growing internationalisation of Australian higher education is highly dependent upon air travel, a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, belying frequent claims on the part of Australian universities to being committed to environmental sustainability. As a critical anthropologist and a scholar-activist, in addition to relying upon published materials, my findings in this chapter rely on an auto- ethnography drawing upon my involvement as a representative of the National Tertiary Education Union branch at the University of Melbourne on sustainability issues and frequent attendance at academic conferences, panel discussions, and seminars, at Victorian universities, on sustainability issues
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