New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) A study that surveyed over 9,000 scientists across 115 countries about their engagement with society on climate change found that at least 70 per cent reported making personal or lifestyle changes, such as reducing car use, following a vegetarian diet or having fewer children.
However, only 23-29 per cent actually engaged in advocacy or got involved in activism, even as most of those surveyed (65-77 per cent) disagreed that engaging in advocacy and activism, including taking part in climate change protests, would hurt their credibility, the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found.
An international team, led by researchers at the University of Amsterdam, said that while scientists are well placed to help tackle climate change, little is known about their wider engagement with the issue.
They, therefore, analysed the views and climate action of scientists from across disciplines, and also studied how their involvement in this respect could be increased.
“Many of the scientists reported making high-impact lifestyle changes, including reducing car usage (69 per cent), reducing flying (51 per cent), increasing energy efficiency at home or shifting to renewable energy (46 per cent), following a vegetarian or vegan diet (39 per cent) and having fewer children (36 per cent),” the authors wrote.
“Many also reported engaging in advocacy and activism behaviours, including talking to others about climate change (78 per cent), engaging in advocacy (29 per cent), donating to organisations addressing climate change (31 per cent), participating in legal climate change-related protests (23 per cent), and a meaningful fraction had engaged in civil disobedience (10 per cent),” they wrote.
To better understand the barriers scientists face in engaging in climate advocacy and activism, the authors examined factors that could help predict their involvement.
The team found that the barriers to engagement were of two types — ‘intellectual’ and ‘practical’.
Intellectual barriers, included a lack of belief in the effectiveness of advocacy or protests, not identifying with activists and little knowledge on the subject, while practical ones involved a perceived lack of skills, lack of time and not knowing groups involved in climate action.
“A perceived lack of skill was especially pronounced for advocacy, while a particular barrier for protest was fear of repercussions,” the authors wrote.
The team, thereby, proposed a two-step model.
First, in order for scientists to be willing to engage in climate advocacy and activism, the authors said they need to overcome, mostly, intellectual barriers.
The team, therefore, suggested facilitating interactions between scientists already engaged and those not.
However, once scientists were willing to engage, the authors found that practical barriers became more important for engaging in climate advocacy and activism.
Therefore, in the second step, the authors suggested institutional reforms, for example by offering more time and money for climate-related actions or rewarding public engagement.
“A very practical barrier that emerged is that many scientists simply do not know how to get started with advocacy or activism and do not know a local network they can connect to. This suggests that academic advocacy and activist movements should set up local groups within institutions to minimise the thresholds for scientists to engage,” the authors wrote.
Virtually all the scientists surveyed (96 per cent) believed that humans are responsible for climate change and 91 per cent thought that addressing it would require fundamental changes to social, political and economic systems.
About 84 per cent strongly agreed that personal and lifestyle behaviour changes are required.
“Governments and corporations continue to make empty promises that downplay the level of transformation that is required to prevent climate breakdown,” co-author Adam Aron, a professor of psychology at the University of California, San Diego, US, said.
“This study makes clear that scientists from all disciplines are very worried and are calling for this fundamental transformation. I hope it helps wake people up and get engaged — more and more scientists are,” Aron said. PTI KRS BHJ BHJ
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