Astronomers for Planet Earth Symposium

Program

General Program structure

The Astronomers for Planet Earth Symposium consists of four elements, which are listed and explained below.

Global live plenary

We will have a global live opening and closing event held in Zoom. The Zoom link can be found in the menu on the left (and additionally in the time table's session description and via the paper clip symbol in the top right of the session box).

Recorded talks

For each topic covered in the symposium, there will be recorded talks by experts in the field as curated by our science organizing committee. The talks will be made available to you one week in advance of the symposium -- you are welcome to watch them at your convenience. A list of all talks can be found at the bottom of this page, sorted by the days they will be discussed.

Discussion sessions

Building upon the recorded talks, we will have dedicated discussion sessions for each topic on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. These sessions will be held in Gathertown (instructions will be provided). To ensure that everyone on the globe can actively participate in these discussions, there will be an early and a late time slot each day covering the same content. Feel free to attend either or both. You can find the link to our Gathertown sessions in the menu on the left (and again in the time table's respective session's description as well as via the paper clip symbol in the top right of the session box). Our Gather space is open throughout the whole symposium and you are very welcome to explore. If you make a contribution (e.g. a paper, talk, poster or simply a plot), it will be displayed there and other A4E members can stop by to discuss.

Panel discussion

We have invited representatives from large astronomy consortia to discuss the current state of sustainability in astronomy and how to proceed into the future. The panel discussion will be broadcasted live on Zoom and YouTube on Tuesday at 14:00 UTC. An initial set of questions is prepared by the organisers of the symposium, but we will also have a moderated discussion of questions from the audience.

Workshops

A4E is a grass-roots organization: any content presented is made by other members. In addition to the core of the symposium, members are welcome to offer individual workshops for a more specific audience. Participants can join any workshop that they are interested in.
Workshops that will take place it this symposium are:
-- Educational resources for a better world (Monday, Nov 28, 19:00 UTC)
-- Sustainability in UK astronomy institutes (Wednesday, Nov 30, 11:00 UTC)
-- AstroEarth Trails - Increasing Climate Change Awareness through outdoor activities in an international collaboration (Thursday, Dec 1, 11:00 UTC)
-- India: Climate challenges and opportunities for astronomy and space sciences (Friday, Dec 2, 11:00 UTC)

---

If you have any further questions regarding the symposium program, feel free to contact us at symposium2022@a4e.org .

Enjoy the symposium!

Tuesday

Recorded Talks

The current status of sustainability in astronomy

Invited

The Carbon footprint of astronomical research infrastructures

Knödlseder, Jürgen

The imperative to reduce carbon emissions in astronomy

Stevens, Adam R. H.

The ecological impact of high-performance computing in astrophysics

Portegies Zwart, Simon

The Labo1.5 initiative. From the early days to the creation of a research group of CNRS, INRIA, ADEME…

Ben Ari, Tamara & Berné, Olivier

Striving towards environmental sustainability in High Energy Physics, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (HECAP)

Gill, Mandeep

The impact of the climate crisis on astro-weather

Cantalloube, Faustine

Contributed

A serious game to build decarbonization scenarios in the astronomy academic community

Malbet, Fabien

Carbon footprint of the Las Campanas Observatory

Méndez Garay, Josefina

NOIRLab’s Environmental Sustainability Program

Miller, Bryan

ESA's Statement for a Responsible Space Sector

Lamboglia, Elisabetta

Open Science and green computing to support sustainability at the SKA Observatory and its Regional Centres

Garrido, Julián; Verdes-Montenegro, Lourdes; Sánchez, Susana

Implementing an international version of the GES1p5 tool

Flagey, Nicolas

Towards a sustainable Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST)

Schimek, Alice

Panel discussion with representatives from large astronomy consortia

Elena Llopis (European Southern Observatory), Violette Impellizzeri (Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration), Elisabetta Lamboglia (European Space Agency), Patrick Seitzer (Committee on Space Research), Bryan Miller (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), Gert Kruithof (Low-Frequency Array), John Reynolds (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), Kevin McCann (W. M. Keck Observatory)

Wednesday

Recorded Talks

Getting active with A4E

Invited

Possible support from A4E for more sustainability in our home institutions

Takalana, Charles

How To Advocate for Solutions To Climate Change

Rector, Travis

What can an astronomer do? -

Williams, Andy

Reports form working groups and projects of individuals in A4E

• Overview video (Ossenkopf-Okada, Volker)
• Website backend (Crumrine, Wendy)
• Web resources (Williamson, Kathryn)
• Newsletter (Ossenkopf-Okada, Volker)
• Outreach (Agnos, Steve & Jessica)
• Membership group (Cool, Adrienne & Deveny, Sarah)
• Astronomy & Climate Change: A Chilean Perspective (Jaffé, Yara & Peña, Karla)
• Civic Engagement with Elected Officials (Williamson, Kathryn)
• Region Africa (Thorat, Kshitij)
• Region Australia, Ocenania (Stevens, Adam)
• Amateur Astronomers (White, Vivian)
• EAS Sustainability Committee: Rise and Fall (Burtscher, Leonard)
• Accesibility (Mehta, Parit)
• Art and Astronomy (Beuchert, Tobias)
• For how long will we inhabit earth? (Pilia, Maura)
• Regional letter to politicians (Wendel, Christoph)
• Statement on science policy (Mingo, Beatriz)

Contributed

The PLEES index: Climate change changes needs

Fréour, Laurane

Light pollution: astronomers go into action in Grenoble

Milli, Julien

The Power of (Collective) Action!

Bernadette Rodgers

Scientist rebellion - the role of scientists in civil disobedience

Penoyre, Zephyr

"La nuit est belle": Raising awareness for light pollution

Vauglin, Isabelle

Blog post for Social Anthropologists in St. Andrews

Wild, Vivienne

Thursday

Recorded Talks

The future of astronomy meetings

Invited

Going beyond video calls for a better future of meetings

Moss, Vanessa and the TFOM community

Assessment of greenhouse gas emissions due to Astronomy conferences

Gokus, Andrea

Scian - a new world for poster sessions

Isbell, Jacob

Contributed

Testing VR 360 for Attending a Conference

Kalas, Paul

Sustainability through teaching and public engagement

Invited

Teaching Sustainability through Astronomy: a look at the National Schools' Observatory

Habergham-Mawson, Stacey & Smith, Emma

Kid's University: News from the small blue dot

Osenkopf-Okada, Volker

From Astrophysics to Sustainability: Building Technology Solutions for Sustainability

de Oliviera Gomes, Rosana

Hanle Dark Sky Reserve ; Saving our natural resources

Angchuck, Dorje

Contributed

In the Biosphere, Beyond the Atmosphere

Binti Nazarudin, Nurul Syahirah

“ExoWorld Walk” a learning experience about the Life on Earth and in the Universe

Ficut-Vicas, Dana

What is Humanity's Future in the Solar System? Lessons from Science Fiction

Puranen, Emma

Paradise Planet Earth: A Human Responsibility

Diego, Francisco

STEM+A@Astronomy: Teaching Astronomy by Building Blocks with Future Skills and Design Thinking

Sit, Exodus Chun Long