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Thirty seconds that shook the Earth science community [1]

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Date: 2023-01-26

Thirty seconds that shook the Earth science community

We are a group of scientists who work on Earth System Science and specifically on the causes and impacts of climate change. Several of us have been authors of reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC. As scientists, we make detailed observations and carefully design experiments and models to understand the causes, processes, and implications of climate change. We stick to facts and do our best to inform policymakers and fellow citizens, and train students in rigorous scientific methods. Importantly, climate scientists are citizens and humans too. As citizens, we have our own views of the world and we engage in the public debate in the ways we see fit. As humans, we have the inalienable right to express our opinions in a peaceful manner.

The fact that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming has been unequivocal for decades1. That we are endangering the future of ecological systems2 and societies is also now unequivocal. To quote the IPCC, “Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”3More than ever, we need to engage actively as citizens-who-are-scientists in working for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and the swift transition to a low-carbon future. We are therefore appalled by the recent retaliation against colleagues who dared to exercise their civil and human rights.

Dr. Rose Abramoff, together with her colleague Dr. Peter Kalmus, unfurled a banner that read “Out of the lab and into the streets” before an art and sciences plenary talk about climate change at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Their action lasted less than 30 seconds4. The response with which they were met was by far disproportionate: AGU immediately removed their scientific contributions from the meeting programme, thus erasing their work from the scientific discourse, and then launched an inquiry. Consequently, Dr. Abramoff – an outstanding early career scientist – was fired from her job at a major governmental institute5. Whether or not one agrees with the form in which Dr. Abramoff and Dr. Kalmus decided to protest, or even if they breached the decorum of the academic establishment, we cannot stay silent in the face of the AGU’s actions against them and the recent retaliation that followed.

We argue that the cost of silence in the face of such unfair and disproportionate treatment, for the scientific community and the planet, would be too high. The heavy-handed and unjust responses to a short banner unfurling not only threatens the careers of two scientists, it also discourages researchers – and especially early-career scientists – from engaging with their colleagues and society and to speak out about the urgent need for climate action. We are deeply concerned by a decision that tells scientists that they risk their careers if they dare speak out or engage in advocacy that is not formally approved. Employers should not punish scientific researchers for participating in nonviolent climate action. Academia and membership organisations like AGU should be safe spaces for freedom of expression.

We stand by our fellow climate scientists who express frustration with the lack of meaningful climate action within the scientific community and the public, who bring attention to the urgency of the moment in a non-violent manner. We stand by Rose and Peter.

We would like to call your attention to an open letter directed specifically at AGU: www.aguopenletter.com

1.IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 2391 pp. doi:10.1017/9781009157896

2. IPBES (2022). Thematic Assessment Report on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Fromentin, J.M., Emery, M.R., Donaldson, J., Danner, M.C., Hallosserie, A., and Kieling, D. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6448567

3. https://www.ipcc.ch/2022/06/06/ipcc-chair-remarks-ipcc-sbsta-special-event-wgii-ar6/

4. Described by both colleagues on twitter: @ultracricket, @ClimateHuman. Video of the protest here.

5. Article in the New York Times here.

This letter has been originally published in French by Le Monde and in Portuguese by the Público.

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[1] Url: https://letterforroseandpeter.wordpress.com/2023/01/26/thirty-seconds-that-shook-the-earth-science-community-2/

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