Scientists and climate change: Extreme anxiety and extreme commitment

Scientists from various fields of study are very concerned about climate change. Many of them have already changed their lifestyles or joined advocacy and protest, and intend to do so in the future.

This is evident from a large survey of scientists from all over the world, conducted by an international research group led by the University of Amsterdam. The researchers not only looked at the views of scientists and how much they participate in climate action, but also how the participation of scientists with climate change can be increased.

The research was published on Monday, August 5, in the newspaper Natural Climate Change.

“Climate change is an existential threat to humanity,” says postdoctoral researcher Fabian Dablander of the UvA’s Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics and one of the study’s lead authors.

“To secure a livable future, each of us must ask ourselves: how can I best contribute to this important moment in human history? Scientists are well placed to help address climate change. However, less is known about them in general. Therefore, our study, where we conducted quantitative and qualitative studies of more than 9,000 researchers from all disciplines. , not just climate science.

Original and personal

The majority of respondents (83%) to the survey said they were “a little” or “a lot” worried about climate change. A large majority (91%) of them believe that fundamental changes in social, political and economic systems are needed to truly address climate change.

The majority of respondents (84%) also think that major changes in behavior and lifestyle are needed. Most of them say they have already made big changes in their lives, by driving less (69%), flying less (51%) and switching to a more plant-based diet (39%).

Willingness to participate

The majority of scientists in this study believe that climate activist groups can bring about positive change and that scientists should be more involved in climate advocacy and even protest. A large number of respondents are already climate advocates (29%), have participated in legal protest (23%) and/or have engaged in civil disobedience (10%), and that about half say they would be willing to participate. more of these in the future.

Breaking down barriers

Based on the data, Dablander and colleagues looked at what factors predict scientists’ involvement in advocacy and protest. They propose a two-step model of engagement.

First, in order for scientists to be willing to participate, they need to overcome many psychological barriers such as lack of faith in the effectiveness of actions, lack of identification with activists, lack of knowledge, fear of losing it is hope and fear of consequences.

Second, to participate, they need to overcome many practical barriers such as perceived lack of skills, lack of time, lack of opportunities, and ignorance of groups involved in climate action.

Based on their two-step model, the researchers propose ways to increase the commitment of scientists, such as facilitating interactions between already engaged and disengaged scientists, and make organizational changes, for example by giving more time and money for climate-related activities or rewarding public discussion.

A wake up call

“Governments and organizations continue to make empty promises that underestimate the level of change needed to prevent climate change,” says Adam Aron, a professor of psychology at the University of California, San Diego. and study co-author.

“This study makes it clear that scientists from all disciplines are very concerned and call for this fundamental change. I hope it helps to wake up people and engage more and more scientists.”

About the survey

In their study, researchers sampled the scientific community by sending targeted emails to more than 250,000 academics. More than 9,000 scientists who ended up responding to this survey come from 115 countries, in all academic disciplines and all career fields.

The researchers believe that it is possible that scientists who were already involved in climate change may have been more likely to participate in the study, which may have affected the percentage. reported to be representative of the scientific community as a whole.