Challenging the neutrality myth in climate science and activism

2024/10/05 by Christel W. van Eck, Lydia Messling, Katharine Hayhoe · 2 voices · 6 citations
Social Sciences · Environmental Science · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Climate Change and Geoengineering #Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s44168-024-00171-9

Abstract

We argue that Büntgen’s (2024) claim that climate science must be separated from activism is fundamentally flawed. Activism does not inherently lead to biased science and striving for value-free science is both unattainable and undesirable. Instead, we advocate for redefining the boundaries of acceptable influence of values in scientific communication and offer practical strategies to move beyond the misleading myth of neutrality.

Citations

• Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists
• Democratic Values: A Better Foundation for Public Trust in Science

Cited by

• How scientists can contribute to the social movements essential to protecting climate and nature
• Human-Centered Threat Modeling in Practice: Lessons, Challenges, and Paths Forward
• Academic Activism and the Climate Crisis: Should Scholars Protest?
• Advocacy – defending science or destroying it? Interviews with 47 climate scientists about their fundamental concerns
• A critique of climate objectivity in the context of global injustice
• How frames and narratives in press releases shape newspaper science articles: the case of ocean plastic pollution

Discussions

• “The claim that climate science must be separated from activism is fundamentally flawed Activism does not inherently lead to biased science” 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 doi.org/10.1038/s441... [bsky, 32 points, 2 comments]
• van Eck, C.W., Messling, L. & Hayhoe, K. Challenging the neutrality myth in climate science and activism. npj Clim. Action 3, 81 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s441... [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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• Advocacy – defending science or destroying it? Interviews with 47 climate scientists about their fundamental concerns
• A critique of climate objectivity in the context of global injustice
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