NIME environmental statement - request for feedback

Dear NIME,

greetings from the new environmental officers, Raul Masu, John Sullivan and Adam Pultz Melbye.

The past month we have been working on an environmental statement (see below) and would love the feedback of the community before posting it on the website. Please let us know your thoughts.
As you see below, we are additionally working towards building a repository of resources that may be of help to individual researchers and the community at large, in terms of addressing environmental issues.

All the best, Raul, John and Adam

Environmental Statement:

Every action we perform, including research, has an impact on our ecosystem. We acknowledge that we live in a time of unprecedented environmental crisis caused by human activity and the intensified use of fossil fuel technologies. NIME is committed to lessening the environmental impact of our field through a continuous evaluation of our infrastructure, tools and consumption.

As the annual conference is the cornerstone of the NIME community, we believe environmental sustainability and conservation should be considered in its planning and execution, and priority given to venues and suppliers that demonstrate commitment to these areas. Beyond the conference, we advocate research and artistic practices that support these same principles of sustainability and conservation.

Specifically, we wish to address the following topics:

  • Work with steering committee and conference organisers to create a more sustainable NIME conference
  • Promote environmental awareness in our use of tools, technologies, and materials by providing information and resources to researchers [see below]
  • Work with the ethics and diversity committees to ensure that sustainability measures observe and are inclusive of varying geographical, social and economic realities
  • Encourage conference submissions that address these above issues

As humans, we have a responsibility towards our environment and ecosystem.

As artists and researchers, we have the ability to give voice to climate change and to confront and question damaging privileges and habits, through the development of new practices, technologies and infrastructures that lessen our planetary impact.

As individuals, our impact is negligible but as a community, we can make a difference.

To support sustainable practices within and beyond NIME, we have created a repository containing information and green resources for environmental issues in NIME research. This repository will be continuously updated and contain information, ideas, and suggestions for how we can lessen our individual as well as institutional footprint. It is softly curated by the environmental officers, and we highly encourage everyone to submit requests for additions and edits. We hope that this will become a resource, not only for evaluating our environmental impact but also spawn new ideas, designs, sonic works, and collaborations, possibly having an impact also beyond the boundaries of NIME research. [We will add here a the link to the repository when this statement will be published on the NIME website]

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Many thanks for getting started on the environmental statement, it is good and timely work! You have covered most aspects of NIME community’s environmental impact. Regarding the conference, you say that you will:

This could be improved in my view. “More sustainable” is a bit vague, and possibly misleading. You could include environmental targets - for example reducing net conference emissions by a specific amount by a certain date, or aiming for carbon-neutral by a certain date, or supporting a flight-free conference. Or you could mention alternative delivery models - online, hybrid - that are inherently more environment-friendly.

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Hi Lamberto! good point indeed.
According to your suggestion, I would think it makes sense to split this in two/three, something like:
-aim “for carbon-neutral by a certain date” (we have to think about a reasonable date =)).

  • work toward an hybrid, as much as possible flight-free conference
    -in collaboration with steering committee and conference organisers will also develop strategies and suggestion to make NIME more green (suggestions on services, software, hardware and develoing green initiatives)

Maybe the third pooint is not necessary

What do you think about this?

Thank you Lamberto, it’s a good point.
We’ll work more on striking a balance between setting general and specific goals, which is something to be agreed on with the steering committee and the community in general. We’ll get back after our meeting next week.

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