The NGM is a biennial meeting of Nordic geographers, taking place in turn in one of the Nordic Countries.
The 5th Nordic Geographers Meeting will be held in Reykjavík, Iceland, at the University of Iceland, 11 – 14 June 2013. Previous meetings include: Lund, Sweden (2005); Bergen, Norway (2007); Turku, Finland (2009); Roskilde, Denmark (2011).
The theme of the NGM 2013 is Responsible Geographies.
We are presenting research on the carbon impacts of the Westfield River Canoe Races.
While most people think that a canoe race does not significantly to carbon emissions, especially when compared to auto racing, air travel or just about any motorized event, our research found about 33.6 pounds of carbon were emitted per vehicle in 2012 and 32.5 pounds in 2013. From our group sample over the two years (n=142), this meant that each group having 2 or more cars to shuttle the canoes the average emissions per group was closer to 62.6 pounds in 2012 and 66.2 pounds in 2013.
Research has found that tourism activities contribute about 5% of the global emissions and of that figure 75% is from transport costs.
So a little canoe race in Western Mass, does have an impact. See the abstract in the Nature Conservation and Tourism session.
Here we are navigating through Hill and Dale Rapids!
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