These scientists felt powerless over the climate crisis – so they decided to do something about it

Science generates evidence, which in turn informs policy and creates positive societal and global change. But now that social contract has been broken. So what does that mean for scientists? In a new book, 25 experts explain how they have had to change tactics in the face of the climate emergency. Here, three of them share their stories about the ways they’ve adapted their work while trying to save the planet.

Abi Perrin, scientist / climate and nature activist

Until recently, my job involved many hours of staring down microscopes trying to decipher the intricate inner workings of the tiniest lifeforms, things like malaria parasites and carbon-capturing algae. Motivating my work was a belief that what we learned would benefit people through better medicines, foods or environmental protections. I was also deeply fascinated by the life in my petri dishes.  

By 2018, I began to feel conflicted about my research career. Despite lots of talk about the climate emergency, not much about daily life in research science was changing around me. There were a few new stickers on bins and light switches, and some people started measuring how much plastic they were using, but it felt confusing not to see more urgent action. So when I saw scientists out at climate protests in their lab coats I was immediately drawn to meet them. 

The more I got to know these scientists, the braver I felt to explore different ways to push for change. This has led me to shift away from looking down microscopes.  

I miss the moments of wonder I experienced at the laboratory bench, but I’m certain that the best way I can use my scientific training is no longer in studying life, but by acting to protect it while we still can. I’ve presented talks, ran workshops, met with politicians and continued to engage in nonviolent protest alongside a community of scientists who have encouraged and inspired me. Writing our book has been a reminder of what we can achieve when we work together – to counter my once-overwhelming feelings of despair with growing shoots of courage and agency.  

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Neal Haddaway, environmental scientist / photojournalist

I am often asked if I feel hope about the future. As an environmental scientist, my research focused on identifying impacts of human society on the natural world. The results painted a bleak picture. The more
I studied different systems – from agriculture to mineral extraction, and from international development to climate change – the results pointed in the same direction. Things were bad and they are getting worse. Hopeful wasn’t a word I ever felt. Terrified, panicked, paralysed, more like.

After finishing my PhD, I was awarded a Humboldt Fellowship to study climate evidence and policy in Germany. I spent two years working with a group of incredibly intelligent researchers developing state-of-the-art studies to direct climate policy. At the same time I saw political leaders ignoring the most basic science – that we needed an immediate end to burning fossil fuels if we wanted to avert a planetary catastrophe. 

My disillusionment grew during the pandemic, compounded by frustrations with the way politicians had “had enough of science”, instead making policies based on opinion and self-interest. I could no longer work 12-hour days, seven days a week. What was the point, when I knew the work we were producing was likely to be ignored anyway?

The difference between what I wanted to do – to leave the world better than I found it – and the system I found myself in became too much to cope with. In 2021, I made the difficult decision to leave academia, quitting my research position in Sweden and going back to university to study an MA in photojournalism and documentary photography in London. 

As part of my studies, I made a project called ‘Hope? and how to grieve for the planet’, interviewing environmental scientists about their feelings on the state of the world. Through this process I found a creative outlet for my planetary grief, and provided catharsis for other researchers struggling with their own. I realised that my work could have an impact, reminding people that it’s OK to feel the way they do.

I now work as a documentary photographer, highlighting the hidden social and environmental costs of food imperialism; the ways in which powerful nations and institutions control disadvantaged people and places for their own financial gain. I use my research background in my investigative journalism, but I no longer rely on the assumption that policymakers will use robust evidence to make decisions about climate and environmental policy. 

Do I now feel hope about the future? It is true that I know that there are no real grounds for optimism, but I have learnt the power of active hope in helping me to do what I believe is right. I don’t feel hope, I choose it.

Chris Jones, science teacher / climate activist

As a chemist and science teacher I have spent the best part of two decades talking with some of the smartest young people in the world. It has become an increasing challenge to teach about global pollution success stories – such as reversing ozone depletion, acid rain and lead contamination from petrol – while teaching about global warming not only remaining unsolved but accelerating.

After spending years rising through the ranks in multiple high-flying London schools, I felt a growing unease with the lack of action. In 2019, after thousands of conversations with students about the issue, I decided to see if my skills in organising could support activists trying to raise the alarm. I shifted my work as a tutor and became a part-time activist. I looked not only at organisations like Extinction Rebellion (XR), but with grassroots organisations like Respace, supporting the circular economy, sustainable business and repurposing of empty buildings.

I had spent a year with XR when I learned about the tour of the UK to raise the alarm and talk about climate change. Three buses left London with their own collective of climate-concerned humans. We had hundreds of conversations and met a number of climate deniers. My biggest piece of learning from the experience was that there is an increasing amount of disinformation, more so with the increased use of AI. Clarity and directness of communication, linking to personally testable science, are needed to cut through the noise and half-truths.  

Future activists need constantly evolving messages and to be more aware of the people that stand to gain from climate change and how they are acting. Economic counter arguments to divesting from fossil fuels influence the people reeling from years of austerity. Poorer families will be vulnerable to social posts attacking net zero, renewables and measures to rein in the pace that we charge towards the points where climate change accelerates (tipping points). 

Communicating the weakness of those arguments and how the poorest stand to lose the most from climate change, economically, will be critical to convincing politicians that they should resist lobbying and better represent the people that put them in power.

Scientists on Survival: Personal Stories of Climate Action by Scientists for XR is out now (Michael O’Mara Books, £9.99). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.