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ISEE seeks to reduce carbon footprint of conference
August 22, 2012
“Eco-friendly” is a word that describes the 24th Annual International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) conference, beginning Aug. 26 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
The move to reduce the carbon footprint of ISEE meetings grew from the membership’s desire to make their conferences more eco-friendly. The ISEE Council and the 2012 meeting organizers have explored measures to offset the environmental impact of conference travel and related activities, said Dr. Jim Burch, chair of the 2012 conference host committee and associate professor of epidemiology at the Arnold School of Public Health.
Eco-friendly measures, including electronic scientific poster sessions, are a natural fit for the ISEE, whose members are among the leaders in research and discussions about the impact that climate change is having on personal, local, regional and global scales, Burch said.
Organizers looked at many options for the conference, and among the most interesting ideas was the opportunity for researchers to showcase their studies via electronic posters.
“This will be the first time that this innovative and interactive presentation format will be used at an ISEE meeting,” Burch said.
And while not all of the posters will be displayed on 50-inch plasma display screens, the move toward e-posters demonstrates a sustainable initiative in conferencing.
“The benefits of e-posters include economic and environmental savings from the elimination of printing and transportation costs,” Burch said. “There’s no need to print, carry and pin the posters on conventional boards. E-posters also give us the opportunity for simplified poster creation and submission, along with innovative presentation on high-definition monitors.”
Another advantage to the e-posters is the ability to preserve and share scientific information from the posters during and after the conference, Burch said.
“E-posters may be examined on the conference website by searching the poster number, title, author, institution name, or keyword, and they may also be linked to a personal or institutional website,” he said.
A grant from the Centers for Disease Control Prevention is helping to support the cost for equipment rental for the e-poster sessions.
Other eco-friendly features include:
- Satisfaction surveys, both post-session and post-conference will be internet-based and paperless.
- Attendees will receive stainless steel water bottles for their use in lieu of bottled water.
- China, glassware and stainless steel tableware will be used instead of disposable food or beverage holders for most of the conference-provided food and beverage services.
- Attendees will be encouraged to use low-carbon transportation while at the conference, such as walking or bicycling.
- Attendees have the opportunity to participate in one or more of the carbon-friendly excursions that are planned, such as a moonlight paddle along the Congaree River, or a walking tour of some of the Vista establishments.
- In place of printed abstract books, abstracts will be provided to all participants on thumb drives made from recycled plastic.
- Published abstracts also will be placed in the online area of the journal Epidemiology, rather than in the printed version of the journal.
“This is a great opportunity to make future ISEE conferences more eco-friendly and at the same time complement sustainability efforts by the Arnold School of Public Health and the University of South Carolina,” Burch said.
