[QGIS-Developer] Environmental policy

[Andreas Neumann]

Hi,

I am also adding my personal preferences down here, but I fear this 
whole discussion will be a bit difficult to summarize.

Am 16.01.20 um 12:21 schrieb Paolo Cavallini:
> Hi all,
> following the interesting proposal by Andreas, I'm here starting a
> discussion about QGIS.ORG environmental policy:
>
> * do we need an explicit environmental policy?

not sure we really need one. But maybe add a section somewhere on the 
website, just 1-2 paragraphs/sentences should be enough.

> * probably our greatest impact is travel for Developers Meetings

yes - and the downloads of QGIS and our server infrastructure. But 
Hetzner already uses green energy (no fossil, no nuclear).

>    * do we need in person general meetings, or we can promote more
> extensive and structured use of remote connections?
I think the in person meetings are still useful.
>    * if we need it, do we need two meetings per year?

Not sure - but something to discuss. Maybe we could have one 
international meeting per year and then another local one organized by 
country user groups or several user groups together.


>    * do we want to plan our meetings in an optimal location, to minimize
> total travel?

That would be ideal - but maybe not so easy to achieve. We need 
volunteers. Often we do not have a choice but have to be lucky to find a 
volunteer to organize a meeting.

>    * do we want a combination between the two: smaller local meetings
> that reduce travel, coordinated across the globe?

maybe, or one international meeting per year, and one more local one to 
complement that - see above?

>    * do we want to suggest|gently push|require participants to use low
> impact transportation?

How about: gently push. And have the policy that we only reimburse train 
tickets for short distances (to be defined what a short distance means).

But this only for travels that are reimbursed by QGIS.ORG. If the 
participant pay everything by himself, then we can only suggest a travel 
mode.

>    * do we want a cap on cost and time difference between transportation
> method? e.g. train is to be used when cost or duration are no more than
> x times flight cost or duration
We don't want a lot of bureaucracy or a "travel police" ;-) we should 
trust on common sense and the good will of our participants. I think 
most QGIS people are environmentally sensitive anyway.
> * do we want to engage in proactive environmental actions? e.g. donating
> to the environmental agencies|NGOs|etc. specific tools to evaluate and
> reduce impact? e.g. a QGIS ad hoc grant with a specific budget for it

No. Definitely no donations from our donations. That's not the purpose 
of QGIS.ORG.

> * do we want additional actions? e.g. low impact (vegan) diet on Dev
> Meetings?

Only recommend local meeting organizers to also have a focus on our 
environmental impacts. What that means is often best known by the locals.

Thanks for picking up this discussion,

Andreas