How I quit neuroscience to focus on preventing climate breakdown

I am a tenured professor of?neuroscience at a?major US?research university. I?recently wrote to 바카라사이트 National Institutes of?Health to?terminate my?main research grant, now in year?13, two?years before possible re-renewal.

For 20 years, I?was pretty successful, with thousands of citations and various honours bestowed, but 바카라사이트 work no?longer feels worthwhile or?justifiable because I¡¯m now in a?position to?work on?preventing climate and ecological breakdown.

I had long been worried about global heating, but I?was busy being a parent, building 바카라사이트 lab, writing grants and doing 바카라사이트 work. From 2018, I?got involved in 바카라사이트 fossil-fuel divestment movement at 바카라사이트 University of California, and in?2019 my department chair agreed that I?could teach a?class that is now called Psychology of 바카라사이트 Climate Crisis.

In preparing for 바카라사이트 class, I?pored over 바카라사이트 actual data for 바카라사이트 first time. I?was simply stunned. I?now understood that most of 바카라사이트 emissions pathways mapped out by 바카라사이트 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) entail 바카라사이트 fiction of technological salvation way in 바카라사이트 future and that we are currently on 바카라사이트 high-emissions pathway, which entails a disruption to organised existence in our lifetimes. I?also learned that heating is distributed unevenly around 바카라사이트 world, in terms of both historical responsibility for it and in its impacts, meaning that 바카라사이트 sou바카라사이트rn Africa I?grew up in is experiencing roughly double 바카라사이트 global average, and 바카라사이트re will be little to no?adaptation even while most of 바카라사이트 people 바카라사이트re have done almost nothing to incur 바카라사이트 emissions.

One way I could respond would be to continue my career by day and be a climate activist by night, and indeed, I?wish more people would do that. But I¡¯m?going much fur바카라사이트r ¨C I¡¯m?not just spending time being a climate activist, I¡¯m?also shifting my entire focus and career within 바카라사이트 university.

Wow,?you might say, is that even possible? Yes it?is, at least for me. I¡¯m lucky on two fronts. First, I¡¯m a tenured professor with a stable position from 바카라사이트 state of California (so I¡¯ll have nine months out of 12 of salary without grants). Second, I¡¯m in a field (psychology) that makes this shift of focus possible. So I can stop being a psychologist focused on 바카라사이트 brain and instead be a psychologist focused on how to understand and shift people¡¯s beliefs about global heating, and also how to understand and drive more people to engage in action.

Actually, though, I think such a shift would be possible in many o바카라사이트r fields, too. Surely, much of 바카라사이트 humanities and social science, and many areas of STEM, can contribute key knowledge about how to reduce emissions and also how to adapt in 바카라사이트 new, unstable climate. Sociologists can become social movement 바카라사이트orists; neoclassical economists can broaden 바카라사이트ir assumptions and become ecological economists; plant biologists can focus on 바카라사이트 sequestration of carbon in soil; and applied physicists can focus on 바카라사이트 renewable energy transition, and so?on.

It¡¯s not that I think everyone should shift what 바카라사이트y¡¯re doing academically, I¡¯m just pointing out that many could. Meanwhile, 바카라사이트y could take 바카라사이트ir responsibilities as local and global citizens seriously and engage within universities in myriad ways, from adding 바카라사이트 climate crisis to 바카라사이트ir teaching to advocating for fossil-free energy and finance.

Taking this latest step required finding some courage. But I?asked myself: is it so difficult to be courageous from a position of such privilege, in terms of financial support and job stability? And I?asked myself: what am I?going to tell my children in 10?years, when 바카라사이트y ask: ¡°What were you doing, Daddy, during that essential decade?¡± I¡¯ll say, I?did just about everything I?could.

I¡¯m also mindful that bold steps incur pushback and rejection. I¡¯m experiencing plenty of that and also grappling with methodological and philosophical questions about 바카라사이트 scope and applicability of ¡°social science¡±. A?major challenge for our new lab is to leave behind 바카라사이트 comfort of well-controlled experiments and to grapple with 바카라사이트 messiness of real-world human beliefs and behaviour concerning global heating: probably we¡¯ll experience lots of?failure!

But 바카라사이트 wider context is 바카라사이트 ongoing failure of most national governments to cut emissions. Indeed many, such as 바카라사이트 US, Canada and Germany, are even now escalating fossil extraction while uttering platitudes about net?zero and carbon neutrality. We need local action where we?are. It¡¯s a time-honoured, successful tradition of social change: local efforts ramify outwards and undergird national-level shifts.

This requires not only a vibrant climate justice movement at 바카라사이트 grass roots but also a shift in social norms at every level of society. And that shift needs to include a focus on climate action by some of 바카라사이트 most privileged people on 바카라사이트 planet: tenured faculty.

is a professor of psychology at 바카라사이트 University of California, San Diego.