Despite decades of scientists’ warnings about climate and ecological breakdown, record-breaking heat and escalating environmental disasters have become commonplace. Science has been attacked, dismissed and politicised, and the world is accelerating in a terrifying direction.
To scientists this can feel particularly overwhelming. So what can we do?
Scientific knowledge alone hasn’t generated the urgent societal action many scientists expected. Therefore, to protect ourselves, future generations and countless other species, some scientists have started to reflect on their tactics. Not prepared to be neutral in the face of such an all encompassing threat, scientists like us have been asking what our role should be in an era when our planet’s life support systems are crumbling so rapidly, while governments and officials pour fuel on the flames.
