Can science help us face our fears?

Climate and Human Nature with Dr. Kate Marvel

This week I’m delighted to welcome Dr. Kate Marvel as my guest editor at Talking Climate. Kate is a climate scientist who began her career as a theoretical physicist studying the entire Universe—before realizing, in her own words, that the Earth is “the only good part of it.” And that’s true! As Martin Rees, another cosmologist, once told me, “fixing climate change is like a doddle in the park compared to terraforming Mars.”

I first met Kate in 2018 at a Story Collider event, where every speaker had to share a true story. Her story, Becoming a Genius, was absolutely hilarious (and yes, it’s recorded—watch it here!). I was an instant fan.

Since then, our paths have crossed many times. Kate was the lead climate scientist at one of my favorite solutions-focused organizations, Project Drawdown. We both contributed to All We Can Save, an anthology of women writing on climate, and co-authored the Climate Trends chapter of the most recent U.S. National Climate Assessment.

Today, Kate lives and writes in New York City, where she also works as a research physicist at a federal agency that—as she says—doesn’t approve of anything she says. Which makes this newsletter even more worth reading 😊

Take it away, Kate!

Credit - NASA's Beautiful Earth Gallery. Siberian ribbons (top left), Alaskan shimmer (bottom left), Floating free (right).

A wise person once said that the most important thing we can do to confront climate change is to talk about it. That’s why I’m so happy that more and more people are joining the conversation — and it’s not all fear and doom.

In dark and challenging times, it’s crucial to dream of better futures — and then get to work making them a reality. To do this, we need to engage people with wonder, hope, and beauty: all things that science can provide.

This is something I struggled with myself: aren’t scientists supposed to be neutral and objective about the things we study? I’ve realized I can’t be, though. Everyone and everything I love lives here on Earth. Pretending we feel nothing about our changing world makes us liars, not scientists.

In fact, I think we need to engage with all our emotions when it comes to climate change. That’s why it’s good news that, increasingly, we scientists are learning to embrace our full humanity — including how we feel.

Because in the end, climate change isn’t just a science problem: it’s a human one. Only by embracing our full humanity will we be able to connect with people and, together, rewrite the ending to our story.

Much of the science that shows us what’s happening to our planet, and the choices we must make to ensure our future, is currently under threat in the United States. Grant cancellations, budget cuts, mass firings, and much more threaten our ability to monitor current changes and prepare for what’s coming: and that’s very unfortunate news, because the planet won’t stop warming just because we stop paying attention.

It looks all but certain that the 1.5°C target is out of reach, and meeting the 2°C target set by the Paris Agreement will be extremely challenging. As the science says, “every bit of warming matters;” the more the planet warms, the worse the impacts. But without scientific leadership, we’ll be facing the future alone and unaware. That’s a scary thought.

We’ve been here before, though. The pushback against science is nothing new. Since the 1970s Exxon Mobil had a thriving climate research program, knew exactly what would happen if we kept burning fossil fuels like there was no tomorrow—and, instead of taking responsibility for their role in this, they covered it all up. Even worse, they deliberately pushed a narrative of “the science isn’t settled,” trying to emphasize the uncertainty to sow doubt. [In fact, the documentary about how they did this is called Merchants of Doubt! I highly recommend giving it a watch. -KH]

The history is clear: scientists discovered things, fossil fuel companies lied, and the world heated up. But on a planet that receives more power from the sun in a single hour than the whole of humanity collectively consumes in a year, fossil fuels are not inevitable. We can have better things. We just need to demand them — again and again and again, until we get them!

Science has traditionally enjoyed broad support in many democracies. After all, most people—regardless of political leaning—agree on the importance of knowing stuff before making decisions. But that support can’t be taken for granted. That’s where you come in.

Use your voice. Call or write your elected representatives to let them know how crucial it is to fund and protect scientific research—especially research that helps us understand and respond to climate risks. They hear from lobbyists every day; they need to hear from you too. A Yale study found that elected officials consistently under-estimated how much their constituents cared about climate change. Why? Because they didn’t hear from them!

Support those defending science. Organizations like the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund protect scientists from political and legal attacks. Your donation helps ensure researchers can do their work without fear or interference. (CSLDF has helped me when I’ve been attacked by fossil fuel-funded lawyers! -KH)

Build community and stand up, peacefully. Climate action doesn’t have to mean going it alone. Join a local group working on climate resilience, clean energy, or environmental justice. Conversations really do make a difference and, as previous guest editor and historian Emily Pawley shared, nonviolent protest has a long and powerful history of driving change. Whether it’s talking about climate change with your friends and community, marching for science, supporting youth climate strikes, or advocating for better policy in your city, showing up matters.

The most important thing each of us can do is something—and to do it together.

👋 Katharine, here!

Being a climate scientist isn’t easy. It gives us a front-row seat to a disaster none of us want to see happen (and we’re all doing our best to avert). As Kate writes here, “To be a climate scientist is to be an active participant in a slow-motion horror story.” And she continues, “What do I tell my son? A monster awaits in the deep, and someday it will come for you. We know this. We put it there.”

As I often say, real hope begins with a clear-eyed look at just how bad the situation is, and how dire the consequences of inaction. But as Kate reminds us, while “it's OK to grieve over the things we've lost and will lose, grief isn't the same as despair. We need to be brave enough to do the right thing."

That’s why I’m so excited to read her new book, Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet which was published earlier this month. In it, Kate doesn’t shy away from the hard truths; but she also leans into the emotional weight of those truths: what it means to face them as a human who wants to fight for a better future.

For more from Kate, find her on Bluesky at @drkatemarvel or visit her website, marvelclimate.com.