Concerned Scientists

• School and city buses, trash trucks, 18-wheelers, and off-road construction vehicles, are among the many fluxes of emissions from the transportation sector.
• This suggests that communities of color are affected significantly more by the adverse effects of the public and private transportation sector.
• However, replacing fossil fuel-based diesel with biomass-based diesel, which would lower emissions, is one of the most important measures to decrease negative health disparities in communities of color.
• Green vehicles not only help mitigate transportation pollution's impact on public health, but also lower diesel fuel costs.

• And during the same month in Norway, three scientists were arrested for protesting the nation’s slow-moving climate policy.
• We’re interested in how the surge in science activism may be changing the norms of scientific research.
• With colleagues, we recently reviewed and summarized a growing body of studies examining how scientists are mobilizing for social activism and political protest.

A new wave of science activism

• Science activism has long been considered taboo, as many in the field fear that politicizing science undermines its objectivity.
• More recently, the election of Donald Trump in 2016 triggered a wave of political mobilization not seen in the United States since the Vietnam War era.
• In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change activism, Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement, scientists have also mobilized, and science advocacy organizations are playing important roles.
• A new course taught by an MIT physics professor titled “Scientist Activism: Gender, Race and Power” helps raise student awareness about the political nature of science.

Professional norms may be shifting

• However, we also expect that impending crises, like climate change, may be driving acceptance of activism within the scientific community.
• But this near-uniform level of support for political action suggests that the professional norms that have long sanctioned scientist activism may be shifting.
• Scientist activism often entails some level of personal or professional risk.
• Although they are more likely to be rewarded for this activity, they are exposed to greater risk for doing so.

Emerging lessons

• Two lessons emerge from our research thus far.
• First, our findings indicate that science activism may be gaining legitimacy within the scientific community.
• Second, because race unevenly structures scientists’ experiences with activism, science activists can build on their current momentum by
  embracing intersectional solidarity.

• "Electric tractors are an essential part of addressing the climate crisis and forging a sustainable future for farmers.
• These tractors can be charged from renewable energy and not only eliminate on-site emissions, but also provide a healthier work environment," said Mani Iyer, CEO of Solectrac, a subsidiary of Ideanomics.
• This time, a Solectrac electric tractor will be on display to show that the future of agriculture is here.
• Farmers, ranchers, and advocates want legislators to address the severe challenges facing the farming community due to the climate crisis.

• Eating meat-heavy diets results in millions of healthy years of life lost every year around the worldand it doesn't take much.
• The Union of Concerned Scientists estimated that thousands of annual cancer deaths could be averted if Americans cut down meat intake to just one ounce a week.
• Physician and author of The New York Times bestsellers How Not to Die and How Not to Diet, Michael Greger, M.D.
• FACLM, weighs in: "It is as if each burger a person consumes is taking 30 minutes off their life.