The worlds of environmentalism and academia are heading for a collision. Global warming alarmists are starting to target air travel for what they see as its contribution to killing Mother Earth. Problem is, both of these left-leaning groups are populated by many of the same people. Thus, as this story illustrates, academics at UNC-Chapel Hill are now being put in the position of agreeing that air travel should be curtailed, but of course, not THEIR air travel. This is really starting to get funny. One of the things under the microscope in this story is travel by candidates to replace Chancellor James Moeser.

For example, as the search committee for Chancellor James Moeser’s replacement intensifies, nominees will fly to Chapel Hill to meet with committee members.

Nelson Schwab, committee chairman, justified the environmental impact of the search with its importance to the University.

“We’ve got to find the right candidate, and I’m not letting anything get in the way of that,” Schwab said. He added that the process is a rare occurrence, happening about every 10 years, with a very defined beginning and end.

But Douglas Crawford-Brown, director of the Institute for the Environment at UNC, said that even with a process as important as selecting a chancellor, the end doesn’t justify the means.

“Nobody does anything to the environment to hurt it. Everything we do, we do for perfectly legitimate reasons,” he said, stressing the need to cut down on such university-related travel.

Perhaps the environmentalists would prefer the candidates drive to Chapel Hill?