Community Page

Those of you who participated in the 5th ISC at Split, Croatia, will know that I am keen to promote environmentally-friendly means of attending international conferences. I am aware that a number of delegates took up my suggestion, made through the conference website, of travelling to Split by train (+/- ferry) rather than plane. I am sure that they enjoyed the adventure, and the planet will of course have benefited. The organisers of the forthcoming conference at St. John’s, Newfoundland, have allowed me to once again promote a ‘green’ way of attending the event, but at the moment this is just an idea rather than a real possibility. It would need expressions of interest, and then a good deal of organisation, to become a genuine option.

The nearest rail terminus to St. John’s is Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is possible to get from there to St. John’s by means of two bus journeys and a ferry, but the journey takes over 24 hours and is an option that only travellers from North America might want to consider. In the near-absence of transatlantic passenger ships (the Queen Mary 2 still makes crossings but container ships operating in the North Atlantic no longer have passenger berths available), the only means of surface travel from Europe (or other continents) to North America is by sail – yes, sail! This is not such a crazy idea as it sounds. A sizeable number of sailing vessels are travelling from Europe to Brazil this autumn for COP30, and through my contacts in the organising body (Flotilla4Change), I think it might be possible to arrange the availability of sailing vessels for a Europe-Newfoundland round trip focussed on the 7th ISC. Be warned: it would not be cheap or quick (at least €2000 for each crossing lasting 2-3 weeks). However, the novelty of the idea, and the importance of the issue underlying it, might well make it attractive to sponsors.

Please let me know (a.l.a.johnson@derby.ac.uk) if you have an interest—even the slightest—in this plan, and I will see if it can be turned into a reality. Don’t hesitate to come back to me with other comments, but please let me have your responses soon—finding vessels, and crews to sail them, will take some time.

I look forward to hearing.

                                                                                                                 - Dr. Andy Johnson, 29th June 2025