How Environmentally Sustainable Is the Internationalisation of Higher Education? A View from Australia

• Main Author: Baer, Hans A.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Springer Singapore 2022
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4911-0_5; https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-981-16-4911-0_5

Abstract In a world of increasing awareness of the many drivers of anthropogenic climate change, all of which fall under the larger rubric of global capitalism with its emphasis on profit-making, economic growth, and a strong dependence on fossil fuels, many universities, particularly in developed societies, have proclaimed a staunch commitment to the notion of environmental sustainability. Conversely, the growing emphasis on internationalisation of higher education, particularly in Australia, entails a considerable amount of air travel on the part of university staff, particularly academics but also support staff, and overseas students and occasionally domestic students. Australia is a generally highly affluent country which is situated in the driest inhabited continent and increasingly finds itself functioning as a “canary the coal mine” with respect to the ravages of anthropogenic climate change. Ironically, climate scientists and other observers often refer to various regions, such as the Arctic, low-lying islands, the Andes, and Bangladesh, inhabited by indigenous and peasant peoples as the canaries in the coalmines when it comes to the adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change. It is often said that those people who have contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions are the ones suffering the most from climate change, a more than accurate observation.