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Scientists must act on our own warnings to humanity

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 3, pages 1271–1272 (2019)Cite this article

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We face interconnected planetary emergencies threatening our climate and ecosystems. Charlie J. Gardner and Claire F. R. Wordley argue that scientists should join civil disobedience movements to fight these unprecedented crises.

Scientists have worked hard to communicate the severity of these crises — not only to each other through peer-reviewed publications, but also to policymakers and the wider public. On two occasions, we have collectively issued stark ‘warnings to humanity’: in 1992 when the Union of Concerned Scientists warned that “a great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated” (World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity; Union of Concerned Scientists, 1992), and again in 2017 with over 15,000 signatories (W. J. Ripple et al., BioScience 67, 1026–1028; 2017).

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. Kehoe for comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Charlie J. Gardner

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Claire F. R. Wordley

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  1. Charlie J. Gardner
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  2. Claire F. R. Wordley
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Contributions

C.J.G. and C.F.R.W. contributed equally to this work. C.J.G. conceived the paper. C.J.G. and C.F.R.W. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Charlie J. Gardner.

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Competing interests

Both authors are members of Extinction Rebellion but receive no financial or other benefits as a result of publication.

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Gardner, C.J., Wordley, C.F.R. Scientists must act on our own warnings to humanity. Nat Ecol Evol 3, 1271–1272 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0979-y

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