Thread by @GastonRijo

I love science. I love studying and doing biology. But there is a nagging feeling in the back of my head all the time. And I don’t see it going away in the future. Many of us have it too. I’m sure most scientists do. Yes, I’m talking about the climate crisis. Do you feel this?🧵

Today we published with other scientists of @ScientistRebel1 an article advocating for more climate activism within the scientific and academic community. Here is a thread by @FerRacimo that summarizes it:

https://twitter.com/FerRacimo/status/1566681690751262721

Climate anxiety is something that’s already mainstream, I don’t need to define it. If you got this far, you probably already know what it is.

But what is that feeling of purposelessness that comes from knowing that, that organism that you study and dedicate days on end to understand, will be extinct within your lifetime?

That feeling you get when you know that no matter how hard you work to help humanity doing research in health, the biggest threat to human health right now is something that seems insurmountable.

And you ignore it.

I ignore that feeling because it won’t affect me — you say to yourself
I ignore it because I can’t face it
I ignore it because there’s nothing I can do

I know how that feels, I feel it too.

But I can’t justify it. I can’t justify ignoring it.

We as scientists are supposed to better the condition of humanity — I look at myself in the mirror and say that I care about life in this planet, go back to my desk and write a grant promising to better our knowledge on human health. While it’s 25 degrees in November in Paris.

Thinking about it is the only thing I do. We all agree the planet is fucked. I just mention it casually in conversations in conferences, sarcastically — a cathartic attempt to strike a conversation that matters. I get some cheap laughs.

But I see the faces, behind the smirks a shadow of doom creeps up. We’re all in on this, we all agree — conversation moves along, don’t linger on the topic a lot, it hurts. Also, what’s the point?

Scientific communities, engaged in research, pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, together in an ever moving and ever expanding wave of discovery.

Scientific communities, not engaged with society, constantly focusing on the small picture of their topics, engulfed in a pulsing blob of bureaucracy that feeds off of citation metrics and short-term grant rewards.

What sounds more appropriate to describe what you do?

Scientists, we have a privilege. We have access to an invaluable set of intellectual tools acquired during our training. We have the trust of the public, more than politicians at least. And with privilege, comes responsibility.

Responsibility to do something about it.

And there are scientists already doing something about it.

In these past weeks in the #UniteAgainstClimateFailure movement, scientists have been engaging in non-violent protests, blocking streets, gluing themselves to polluting companies such as @BMW , blocking private jets from taking off.

https://twitter.com/ScientistRebel1/status/1586286027240443905

They were demanding necessary change. But change is not happening fast enough.

We need you to join us in this. You need you to join us. Do something about that feeling that lingers somewhere in your psyche.

You can start by inviting people to give talks about why it is important to be a scientist and a climate activist.

You can start by giving platforms for civil disobedience education in your institutions.

Add a few slides to your talks, there are examples here scientistrebellion.com/sr-talks/

Read our article elifesciences.org/articles/83292 — a work by scientists directed at scientists.

Follow the authors: @FerRacimo,@EliaValentini, @AnnaNorb, @lane_atmore, Myranda Murray, @SanjaHakala,@FrederikAppelO, @CharlieJGardner and @JoolesBH.

Look at their faces:

https://twitter.com/FerRacimo/status/1589577761202786305

Join local activist groups and attend protests pushing for change. Engage in non-violent civil disobedience on the streets, on buildings of institutions.

Join Scientist Rebellion scientistrebellion.com @ScientistRebel1

Join other activist groups @ScientistsX @JustStop_Oil @DebtforClimate @Renovate_CH @InsulateLove @AufstandLastGen @UltimaGenerazi1

Let's fight for life