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Civil disobedience by scientists helps press for urgent climate action

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 773–774 (2022)Cite this article

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Time is short to secure a liveable and sustainable future; yet, inaction from governments, industry and civil society is setting the course for 3.2 °C of warming, with all the cascading and catastrophic consequences that this implies. In this context, when does civil disobedience by scientists become justified?

The scientific community is well aware of the grim trajectory on which the Earth is headed1,2; many of those working on climate change experience anxiety, grief or other types of distress as a result1. Increasingly stark warnings and the gathering pace of climate impacts stand in contrast to the persistent growth in global emissions2,3. Some scientists conclude that the discordance between the evidence and lack of response constitutes a broken contract between science and society4. Others point to powerful vested interests and systemic inertia obstructing significant emissions reduction3,5,6.

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Fig. 1

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Stuart Capstick

  2. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Stuart Capstick, Emily Cox & Steve Westlake

  3. School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Aaron Thierry

  4. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Emily Cox

  5. School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Oscar Berglund

  6. Institute of Geography and Sustainability, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Julia K. Steinberger

Authors
  1. Stuart Capstick
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  2. Aaron Thierry
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  3. Emily Cox
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  4. Oscar Berglund
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  5. Steve Westlake
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  6. Julia K. Steinberger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stuart Capstick.

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Competing interests

All authors have participated in, and offered support to, groups carrying out civil disobedience to press for climate action.

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Capstick, S., Thierry, A., Cox, E. et al. Civil disobedience by scientists helps press for urgent climate action. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 773–774 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01461-y

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