Academic flying, climate change, and ethnomusicology: personal reflections on a professional problem

Abstract

Continuing the tradition of reflexivity in ethnomusicological writing, this article represents a personal position statement on the practice of ‘academic flying’. In the context of climate change concerns, I table the reasons for my discomfort with my own academic flying, present my options (as I see them), and reflect on possible career implications. By making public my stance on academic flying, I hope to motivate greater individual and collective consideration of the environmental impact of our ethnomusicological activities, and to encourage researchers and their institutions, universities and professional associations to consider ways of actively supporting a future in which the environmental impact of academic flying is an integral ethical and moral consideration in our work.