Climate Action and Activism: Scientists as Citizens and Communicators

Abstract:

Humans are not particularly good at being rational, either individually or socially; in the case of climate change, our concerns are chiefly social.  The denial of climate change and its costs (ranging from denial of basic principles to using high discount rates to reduce the current value of future losses, and supported by fossil fuel companies and their many political allies) has delayed an effective response to a problem that gets worse and more costly the longer action is delayed. The central role of fossil fuels in our economies and of fossil fuel interests in our politics leads many to worry about the costs of change while denying or ignoring the costs of business as usual. Rational decision makers would not be so selective, either about the evidence or about the costs and benefits that hang in the balance.

Effective communication can help call attention to the evidence and to the costs and benefits that have been neglected.  Our society has no formal rules requiring scientists to become activists, even when the results of their work provide sound reasons for taking action. But ideals of citizenship and humanitarianism provide strong justification for those who choose to engage with the issues. A reticent scientist might feel that her job is done once the results of her research are published. The rest is arguably the responsibility of others—of politicians, journalists and citizens in general, to learn the relevant facts (now available as part of the published literature) and to bring those facts to bear in decisions ranging from the personal to the political and economic. But I urge scientists who feel this way to reconsider—not because their view of where the real responsibility lies is wrong, but because they are in a position to make a difference. In situations like these, where powerful interests are threatened by inconvenient facts, scientists can be very effective communicators: they have high credibility with the public (as deniers' repeated claims to scientific authority ironically confirms), and those who do take on the public role of communicating science can help to counter the propaganda and distortions of science deniers.