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CLIMATE ACTIVISM “Many climate scientists still have not woken up to the fact that nothing is being done to stop a catastrophic outcome” Dr Wolfgang Knorr Above left: Greta Thunberg, the Swedish activist who sparked school climate strikes around the world Above right: XR protesters demand climate justice Right: Dr Wolfgang Knorr, climate scientist and activist Peters also highlights the need for her fellow students and academics to do more. Her medical degree offers an optional module in sustainable healthcare, a rapidly expanding field, yet only four of 150 students have chosen to take the module. She is concerned that awareness of the real-world implications of climate change is low even among her student peers and that there is a certain level of passivity. “We would be shocked if doctors did not know how to manage epidemics of infectious diseases or how to minimise their occurrence – why should it be any different for the much greater health threat posed by the climate crisis?” OFFERING ADVICE AND EXPERTISE Climate scientist Dr Wolfgang Knorr has recently decided to move away from academic research to commit more of his time, skill and knowledge to fight the climate crisis in different ways, including advising activist groups such as XR. After initially working in theoretical physics, Knorr moved to climate science in the early 1990s. His research has looked at atmospheric CO2 and how plants and soils are influenced by changing atmospheric conditions, how the climate is changed by land vegetation and how forests could play a part in stopping the rise in CO2. While still retaining a visiting scientist position at Lund University, Sweden, Knorr now acts as an adviser to XR on the interpretation of scientific research, such as the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. “What scientists tend to overrate is our own knowledge,” says Knorr. “Climate scientists, in particular the IPCC, base their decisions around climate models that show results with gradual transition to some warmer climate state.” The reality of climate change could be very different, he adds, with “a catastrophe arising from something unexpected that has never been thought about before, marked by big, disruptive changes, such as the recent pandemic, or a similarly unexpected insect pest outbreak that destroys crops”. For Knorr, it was “outrage at the inability of the establishment to come up with viable solutions” and governments “outright denying the existence of a problem, playing it down or engaging in initiatives they know will be inadequate” that led him to join groups taking direct action. He believes that many climate scientists still “have not woken up to the fact that nothing is being done to stop a catastrophic outcome”. Knorr stresses that this includes threats to human systems and points to the current coronavirus crisis. “If climate change leads to a lasting deterioration of the world’s food supply and questions of inequality are not addressed, the number of malnourished [and vulnerable people] could skyrocket.” The next pandemic could be an even bigger threat to humanity if nothing is done to mitigate the effects of climate change, he says. ACTIVISM AND OBJECTIVITY One reason that many scientists are reluctant to publicly campaign for or align with activist groups is 20 / The Biologist / Vol 67 No 3
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that a key principle in science is the need to be objective. In increasingly partisan times, information from scientists needs to be wholly independent and some believe that scientists joining protests could reinforce the belief that scientists are an ‘interest group’, making all scientific data less credible and other researchers’ efforts more easily dismissed. Bullock disagrees. “Activism doesn’t undermine my independence as a researcher,” he says. “It arises from my independent analysis of the evidence.” For him, “activism is based on the evidence that we are destroying the natural world, and that this evidence is being systematically ignored and underplayed. I have made a rational decision that activism is the only way to get governments and others to take notice of the evidence and act.” Bullock believes that if more scientists researched the goals and principles of groups such as XR, which are founded on the communication of accurate and impartial information, more might be willing to join. And if they can’t join a direct action group, they should be doing everything they can to improve their sector’s impact. “We [academics] need to reconsider how we run conferences and do research, and from whom we receive funding.” Knorr believes that recent climate-based activism differs from earlier activities in that for the first time “it has propelled the topic quite a long way up the political list of priorities, similar to the Occupy movement bringing the issue of inequality to the political radar screens. It remains to be seen, though, if the effect will last.” For Sarah Peters, the decision to partake in activism is simple: she “cannot in good faith stand by, knowing the current and future effects of the climate crisis, and do nothing”. So, is it time for more scientists to become directly involved with campaigning and activist groups such as XR? This year The Biologist is looking to explore how life scientists are dealing with the existential crises facing the organisms and habitats they study. If you have a view on this topic, we’d love to hear from you. Emma Wrake AMRSB is editorial assistant at the Royal Society of Biology. “My activism is based on the evidence that we are destroying the natural world, and that this evidence is being systematically ignored and underplayed” Professor James Bullock Vol 67 No 3 / The Biologist / 21

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CLIMATE ACTIVISM

“Many climate scientists still have not woken up to the fact that nothing is being done to stop a catastrophic outcome”

Dr Wolfgang Knorr

Above left: Greta Thunberg,

the Swedish activist who sparked school climate strikes around the world

Above right: XR protesters demand climate justice

Right: Dr Wolfgang Knorr, climate scientist and activist

Peters also highlights the need for her fellow students and academics to do more. Her medical degree offers an optional module in sustainable healthcare, a rapidly expanding field, yet only four of 150 students have chosen to take the module. She is concerned that awareness of the real-world implications of climate change is low even among her student peers and that there is a certain level of passivity. “We would be shocked if doctors did not know how to manage epidemics of infectious diseases or how to minimise their occurrence – why should it be any different for the much greater health threat posed by the climate crisis?”

OFFERING ADVICE AND EXPERTISE Climate scientist Dr Wolfgang Knorr has recently decided to move away from academic research to commit more of his time, skill and knowledge to fight the climate crisis in different ways, including advising activist groups such as XR.

After initially working in theoretical physics, Knorr moved to climate science in the early 1990s. His research has looked at atmospheric CO2 and how plants and soils are influenced by changing atmospheric conditions, how the climate is changed by land vegetation and how forests could play a part in stopping the rise in CO2. While still retaining a visiting scientist position at Lund University, Sweden, Knorr now acts as an adviser to XR on the interpretation of scientific research, such as the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

“What scientists tend to overrate is our own knowledge,” says Knorr. “Climate scientists, in particular the IPCC, base their decisions around climate models that show results with gradual transition to some warmer climate state.” The reality of climate change could be very different, he adds, with “a catastrophe arising from something unexpected that has never been thought about before, marked by big, disruptive changes, such as the recent pandemic, or a similarly unexpected insect pest outbreak that destroys crops”.

For Knorr, it was “outrage at the inability of the establishment to come up with viable solutions” and governments “outright denying the existence of a problem, playing it down or engaging in initiatives they know will be inadequate” that led him to join groups taking direct action. He believes that many climate scientists still “have not woken up to the fact that nothing is being done to stop a catastrophic outcome”.

Knorr stresses that this includes threats to human systems and points to the current coronavirus crisis.

“If climate change leads to a lasting deterioration of the world’s food supply and questions of inequality are not addressed, the number of malnourished [and vulnerable people] could skyrocket.” The next pandemic could be an even bigger threat to humanity if nothing is done to mitigate the effects of climate change, he says.

ACTIVISM AND OBJECTIVITY

One reason that many scientists are reluctant to publicly campaign for or align with activist groups is

20 / The Biologist / Vol 67 No 3

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