L'alerte des scientifiques du monde à l'humanité (World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity)
My interest in my work is fundamentally driven by two motivators: a deep curiosity to know how life works and also an unremitting desire to preserve it in all its diversity. This may seem a bit grandiose, but it is super-important to remember why all this matters so that a day of running lizards on a racetrack or measuring their blood haemoglobin concentration doesn't feel trivial. Like so many others whose work I know and admire, Project PODARCIS has as its basis the goal of understanding and predicting how global climate change will affect the planet's life. Moving to France in the summer of 2017 was fortuitous: at the same time that the United States was pulling itself out of a global accord on climate change, the leaders of France welcomed U.S. scientists who no longer felt supported in the U.S. While it is entirely coincidental that my move corresponded to this moment, it is certainly a nice coincidence.
Way back in 1992 (when I was a little middle schooler sporting a New York Mets cap and obsessively watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation") scientists issued a strong statement urging policymakers to consider the long-term consequences of our effects on the climate, the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.
A few weeks ago, more than 15, 000 scientists from 184 countries (proudly including me) released a follow-up to this statement, again beseeching the world to recognize the impending disasters if we do not change our ways, and quickly:
Even if we do change, we need to be ready for the disasters that are inevitable given the events we have already set into motion. While many of the same warnings from a quarter-century ago still apply, and many new ones have emerged, this statement is not without its hopefulness. While it's a small gesture, being a signatory on this paper and sharing it with others allows me one more day to avoid running off into the woods while throwing my hands above my head and screaming. Instead, it's back to analyzing some data on our lizards...
Way back in 1992 (when I was a little middle schooler sporting a New York Mets cap and obsessively watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation") scientists issued a strong statement urging policymakers to consider the long-term consequences of our effects on the climate, the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.
A few weeks ago, more than 15, 000 scientists from 184 countries (proudly including me) released a follow-up to this statement, again beseeching the world to recognize the impending disasters if we do not change our ways, and quickly:
Even if we do change, we need to be ready for the disasters that are inevitable given the events we have already set into motion. While many of the same warnings from a quarter-century ago still apply, and many new ones have emerged, this statement is not without its hopefulness. While it's a small gesture, being a signatory on this paper and sharing it with others allows me one more day to avoid running off into the woods while throwing my hands above my head and screaming. Instead, it's back to analyzing some data on our lizards...
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