The climate emergency demands scientists take action and here’s how - Nature.com
The climate emergency demands scientists take action and here’s how | Nature Reviews Physics
Despite decades of ever more urgent warnings, humanity is failing to address the climate crisis. Astronomer and climate activist Bernadette Rodgers argues that climate action, in any number of ways, can get results and is a moral and professional responsibility for scientists at this critical moment in human history.
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The author participates in and provides support to groups carrying out civil disobedience to press for a just and livable future.
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Rodgers, B. The climate emergency demands scientists take action and here’s how. Nat Rev Phys (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-023-00649-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-023-00649-1
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”