World View

Representation and discrimination of those with mobility and sensory impairments is a serious problem in academia, especially in the Earth sciences. Non-disabled academics must fight prejudice and increase the support to, and visibility of, physically impaired colleagues, states Paul Upchurch.

Chronic illnesses, mental health issues, and other hidden disabilities can be debilitating, especially in combination with stigmatization and lack of proper accommodations. Breaking barriers in academic systems for those with hidden disabilities demands that personal, institutional and organizational ableist biases are overcome, writes Isabel Carrera Zamanillo.

It is time to move from quiet tolerance to active advocacy for transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary scientists, because lives are on the line, says Laura Fattaruso.

Collaborative permafrost projects have great potential to overcome political and administrative barriers in the Arctic, bridging the gap between Russian and Western scientists, says Oleg Anisimov.

Unconscious coloniality reinforces inequity and exclusion of Indigenous peoples in STEM. Métis paleobiologist Az Klymiuk outlines ways individuals can become agents for cultural change by implementing decolonizing actions.

Visibility is important, but to be truly inclusive, we need to create strong, resilient, and intersectional geoscience communities that confront the violence from both within and outside of academia, argues Rob Ulrich.

Coming out means becoming human, to share common struggles, to become vulnerable. In this space, fear of rejection about sexual identity dissipates into “I am” but human, and it can start as simply as with a conversation with someone you like and trust, states Jef Caers.

Having multiple intersections of identity makes navigating geoscience complicated. Now is the time for non-marginalized people to take action and dismantle the biased system, outlines Jazmin Scarlett.

Come out, come out, wherever you are: the geosciences need LGBTQI+ allies, says Anson Mackay.

Geoscience is increasingly transdisciplinary, requiring researchers from many different scientific backgrounds to work together. Jayme Feyhl-Buska, a biologist pursuing a doctoral degree in an Earth Science department, highlights lessons that she learned on the cusp of the two fields, and urges collaborators to convey lines of thinking and define terminology upfront.