Climate change and academic activism
What is the relationship between academia and society? Academics, as scholars and educators, have a unique position in society. They possess expert knowledge and skills that can be used to contribute to social and political issues. During the COVID pandemic scientists appeared on our television screens and in the news on a daily basis, guiding us through an unprecedented crisis.
When it comes to the climate crisis, scientists have also played an important role in bringing attention to the challenges we face. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has, over more than three decades, brought together thousands of scientists to better understand the causes and probable consequences of the increasing level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
However, in the last 10 years many scientists have turned to activism of various kinds out of frustration at the lack of action on climate change. In the United States James Hansen (who previously worked at NASA) and Peter Kalmus (who currently works there), are some of the more famous examples of scientists engaging in climate activism alongside, or in combination with their academic pursuits. Both have been arrested for their climate activism. Another interesting example of a scholar activist is Rose Abramoff, a soil scientist working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She lost her job after disrupting the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (together with Peter Kalmus). They jumped onto the stage at the opening session and unfurled a banner saying ‘out of the lab and into the streets’. She was fired by the lab where she works for ‘engaging in a personal activity on a work trip’.
Climate science activists like Kalmus, Hansen and Abramoff have received significant media coverage and helped to bring attention to the climate crisis. However, the climate crisis is but one of many issues where academics have engaged in activism in order to bring about change. For example, Carl Sagan, the Cornell University astronomer and science communicator was arrested in 1986, together with the Bernard Lown of the Harvard School of Public Health for protesting against nuclear weapons testing in the United States.
An example of a less confrontational, but perhaps more effective activist academic is Marian Baird at the University of Sydney. Her research on the impacts and costs of paid parental leave, together with campaigning she did at the National Foundation for Australian Women, and coalition building at the ‘Women and Work Research Group’ at the university contributed significantly to the introduction of a national paid parental leave scheme in Australia. In the United States, Angela Davis has worked as a philosopher and social theorist, while also being deeply involved in campaigns for racial justice and prison abolition. Her activism is, in part been inspired by the Frankfurt-school philosopher Herbert Marcuse, who, she says, taught her that ‘it was possible to be an academic, an activist, a scholar and revolutionary’ all at the same time.
However, academics who combine their scholarly interests with activism face several challenges. One is that, as academics, the public has expectation that they will provide objective and unbiased information about their subject of expertise. By engaging in activism, academics may be perceived as acting in a partisan way, and potentially damage their credibility. This concern is often found in the comments section of articles about academics engaging activism, especially when that activism relates to the climate crisis. Engaging in activism can also take up a lot of time and energy, which may detract from the research and teaching that are the main responsibilities of academics. Engaging in activism may also negatively affect the reputation of an academic, or the institution where they work, especially if their activism focusses on particularly controversial issues.
To think more deeply and critically about academic activism in response to the climate crisis, I organised a panel discussion at SPUI25 at the University of Amsterdam. If you’re interested in issue, you can view the entire discussion online or read about the event in the university newspaper (Folia). Harriet Bergman, who was part of the panel, has also written about the event and you can read her reflections on the event here.
