Point of View: The biospheric emergency calls for scientists to change tactics
- University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- Scientist Rebellion Denmark, Denmark
- University of Essex, United Kingdom
- Scientist Rebellion Italy, Italy
- Scientist Rebellion UK, United Kingdom
- Institut Pasteur, France
- Scientist Rebellion France, France
- Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
- Scientist Rebellion Portugal, Portugal
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
- Scientist Rebellion Norway, Norway
- University of Oslo, Norway
- Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island, United States
- University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Scientist Rebellion Switzerland, Switzerland
- University of Kent, United Kingdom
- Imperial College, United Kingdom
Figures
Figure 1
Examples of practices embracing advocacy and activism in academia.
Scientists can expand the types of practices they carry out through their teaching, research and outreach, to better engage with the public and spur system change.
Figure 2
Scientists as activists through the ages.
None of the tactics outlined in this article are new, and there is a long history of scientists engaging in activism. Examples include the work of statistician Florence Nightingale and physician Elizabeth Garrett Anderson in the women’s suffrage movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; the activism of biologists from the National Museum in Brazil in favour of environmental protection in the 1920s; the Russell–Einstein manifesto of 1955 on the dangers on nuclear weapons; the Science for the People collective campaigning against war and for social justice in the United States in the late 1960s; the acts of civil resistance by climate scientist James Hansen to generate climate action; the work of biologist Esteban Servat building movements linking social justice and environmental abuse; and the Scientist Rebellion movement, which uses non-violent civil resistance in response to the climate and ecological crises. Image credits: Florence Nightingale: Henry Hering (CC0 1.0); Elizabeth Garrett Anderson: Walery (CC0 1.0); National Museum: Cyro A Silva (CC-BY 2.0); Bertrand Russell: Anefo (CC0 1.0); Albert Einstein: Orren Jack Turner (CC0 1.0); Science for the People (CC0 1.0); James Hansen: NASA (CC0 1.0); Esteban Servat: Stefan Müller (CC-BY 2.0); Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island (bottom left): Will Dickson (CC-BY 2.0); Scientist Rebellion Nigeria (top left): Obaloyin Timothy (CC-BY); Scientist Rebellion Spain (top right): Rodri Mínguez (CC0 1.0); Scientist Rebellion Panamá (bottom right): Viviano Romero, Renate Spooner (CC0 1.0); warming stripes: Ed Hawkins (CC-BY-SA).
© 2022, Various. The images in Figure 2 are available under various CC BY, CC BY-SA, or CC0 licenses. Reproduction of this figure must abide by the terms of these licenses. See the figure caption for individual image credits.
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Point of View: The biospheric emergency calls for scientists to change tactics
eLife 11:e83292.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83292
