Re: Next steps towards a net zero IETF

[Christian Huitema <[e-mail]>]

On 3/21/2023 3:40 PM, Charlie Perkins wrote:
> Hello folks,
> 
> I do not intend to express any opinion on the merits of carbon offsets, 
> IETF investigations, etc.  However:
> 
> On 3/21/2023 3:06 PM, Alexander Pelov wrote:
>>
>> I have never chartered an airplane to go to a meeting, and none of the 
>> people I know have done so. I don't know of any hotel having been 
>> built for an IETF meeting, and although I tend to eat out more at 
>> in-person meetings, I try sticking to 3 meals a day (cookies don't 
>> count).
>>
>> Did London, or Prague, or Singapore see bigger planes arrive for the 
>> IETF? Or more of them?
> 
> This is a good example of the "tragedy of the commons".  Every consumer 
> may feel that no one will experience any pain if they just take a little 
> bit.

Individual choices to matter.

The problem that Alexander Pelov mentions is not new. I remember 
studying it in economic classes pretty much just after the relation 
between demand, supply and prices. If I am in the station, the gates of 
the train are about to close, nobody else will come in, and there are 
empty seats, why wont the railroad company just let me in without a 
ticket? The short answer is "because capitalism", but the long answer is 
that the number of cars in the train and the frequency of the trains 
depend on expected traffic -- schedule too few and you loose market 
share, schedule too many and you loose money.

Same goes for planes, or for that matter for elections. Your individual 
vote alone cannot probably change an election, but if many people vote 
the same way the result will indeed change.

-- Christian Huitema