Duty Bound: the Scientists Who Turn To Activism

As government inaction leaves the planet teetering on the edge, a growing number of scientists are swapping lab coats for protest banners, risking arrest in a desperate bid to sound the alarm on the climate and biodiversity crises.

In 2023, I spent time working with a group of scientists from an organisation called Scientists for Extinction Rebellion. Coming from all walks of life, they are teachers, researchers, students, retirees. All have spent years, and in some cases decades, working in science: reading research literature, teaching future generations of scientists, peering down a microscope to looking up through a telescope, and everything in between. They are all fascinated by understanding how the world works.

But what they also all have in common is an overwhelming realisation that the planet is in a critically dire state. Their scientific knowledge has compelled them to do more than just publish research papers — they have taken the challenging decision to step out of their universities and onto the streets. By joining a peaceful protest movement, they hope to share their scientific understanding of the drastic changes we need to make to ensure we have a liveable planet and…