AuthorDr Abi Perrin. Archives
February 2025
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The Understanding Gap2/25/2025 Recently I have ended up thinking a lot about the “theory of change” that’s guiding where I channel my attention and energy at this fraught time in the world. Essentially, why do I do the work that I do now? Why do I think that is so important to be communicating the science and context of the climate and ecological emergency? This post is an attempt to formalise and express my answers to those questions. When trying to solve a problem, it helps to understand it: it usually helps a lot. If we try to act on a problem we don’t understand enough, not only do we increase our chances of failure, we run the risk of making the problem much, much worse. We don’t always need to understand a problem entirely to be able to have a positive impact on it, but a grounding in the system we are dealing with is arguably essential when life is at stake. It’s why medics usually spend years learning about the human body before they’re allowed to prescribe treatments. I’d wager most of us have a better scientific understanding of the human body’s systems and what can go wrong with them than we have for the Earth’s systems and the existential threats posed by their imbalance. Alongside everything we learn more passively throughout our lives, we are likely to have been encouraged, or even required, to learn about the former. I had lessons about every human organ at school, I had to take entire exams about the inner workings of the body… but about the climate? The only vaguely relevant thing I can recall was a video tape we were played in a Geography class about how we needed to sort out our energy system... because we were probably going to run out of coal in a few decades*. If you’re going through school these days you probably do learn a bit more than I did about climate and nature in the 2000s, but most adults - including those leading business and government right now - have probably never been expected to. Most of us haven’t had much opportunity to engage with it, and many of us won’t have felt much need to. This has contributed to a massive gulf between how much we actually understand about the predicament we are in and how much we need to understand to empower us to take effective actions in response. And given that we now need all hands on deck to respond as the Climate and Nature Emergency escalates, it’s a bit like we’re trying to run a hospital without having trained the medical staff.  This is how I see the route from a default position of uncertainty and inaction to the position we need as many people as possible to be in: taking informed and effective climate action. Cultivating understanding is the essential first step, but is not the only important factor. Of course, the reality is more complicated than this, and no two people will have identical journeys - this is simply my attempt distill the theory of change that motivates my own action in trying to address the “understanding gap” This ‘understanding gap’ is the main reason I now focus my energies on Climate and Nature communication and training, starting with the foundations. And what I see as those foundations aren’t just ‘the science’, but also our more emotional connection to that scientific knowledge. To be able to make an informed choice about what to do in our job roles or personal lives, not very many of us need to know the precise concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the temperature of the ocean, the rate of species extinctions… but we all do need a sense of how urgent our situation is, how fast it’s changing, and how connected the different components of the Emergency are. To be motivated to do the inevitably difficult work of creating a fairer, greener, more liveable future than one we are currently hurtling towards, we also need to feel how much it really matters that we do. And to be effective in those actions, we need the confidence that we know the systems we are working within well enough to see where we can each make a meaningful difference. Embedding all of those things - that holistic knowing and feeling - into Climate & Nature communication or training is no small task. But for most audiences, it wouldn’t be fair to assume that either of those core elements of understanding are already there. In a world where we need to mount a rapid emergency response, it can be really tempting to leap towards action without having properly addressed the understanding gap. Our situation can (understandably!) feel too urgent to spend time on learning and thinking like this… but I would argue that it’s too urgent not to cultivate understanding before expecting - or even allowing - ourselves to participate in potentially life-saving interventions. *at the time I was actually very worried about the prospect of us running out of coal! A note on another gap… the one between understanding and action. I am in no way underestimating the significance of this gap and am acutely aware of how frustrating it can be to drive change even once you feel sufficiently informed and motivated to do so. There is so much we need to do, and it’s precisely because of this that we need as many people as possible to understand the problems we face - not just so that we can each take effective action in the areas we are best equipped to, but also to create a broader environment that enables that action, where we don’t find our paths blocked by others who haven’t had the opportunity to understand why those actions are so essential. I’m often asked to write training sessions that address both of these gaps, essentially taking people from not-knowing-and-not-acting to being fully activated, able to immediately set themselves specific, actionable, meaningful goals (often with an extremely short time set aside to do so). I wish I had the power to do this but rather than claiming that’s possible without there being other equally important inputs (good support being absolutely key), I am committed to making sure I can address the understanding gap in the most engaging, empowering and motivating ways I can.
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2024: A new chapter1/1/2025 2024 has been a year has been the start of a new way of working for this scientist. Transitions & New ExperimentsBy the end of 2023, I knew the time had come to close the academic research chapter of my working life. For many years I had genuinely believed that generating knowledge was the best way I could contribute positively to a sustainable future…but over time I’ve realised it’s not a lack of available knowledge that’s blocking that path; broadly we already have the essential scientific information - what we urgently need is for those essentials to be widely known and acted upon. So, whilst wrapping up my research work (planting some seeds for change along the way), I set myself up as a freelance scientist open to any and all forms of climate and nature communication. By early February, my first ‘bookings’ were trickling in. My first was to run an interactive introduction to climate and nature science as part of a training day for Yorkshire’s NHS clinical psychologists. Subsequent highlights have included a keynote speech for environmental masters’ program graduates, workshops for various faith organisations, speaking as a panellist at several environmental documentary film screenings, and facilitating a discussion with an author and TV presenter about their recent book. On the very same day as my first freelance ‘gig’ I started a part-time position with the renewables team at York Community Energy. My job involves working with local organisations such as libraries, sports centres and health centres to determine whether they’d be suitable locations for community-owned renewable energy infrastructure. Over the next year or so we’re looking to install a number of solar panel arrays and use the income from the energy we supply to support people in York who are most disadvantaged by our energy system through measures such as energy advice, home insulation and debt reduction (all whilst also contributing to the decarbonisation of our city’s energy supply). My Fridays are now spent with the rest of the team creating models, refining plans, reporting and communicating our insights from our small office, else we’re out cycling to visit our sites around York, often catching some impressive views from the rooftops. I was delighted to accept a new opportunity last Spring, a contractor role as a researcher and writer for AimHi Earth. For a time a few years back when I was learning everything I could about the climate and nature crisis, I took part in multiple sustainability training programmes and AimHi Earth’s stood out as by far the most holistic, engaging and motivating; it was a communication approach I was excited by at the time and am even more enthusiastic about now I’m involved with updating, refining, expanding and tailoring their training materials. Since joining the team, my role and responsibilities within it have grown significantly, my main focus now being a comprehensive refresh of the core training content that will be used to activate millions of nature-first thinkers around the world. Perhaps the most surprising project I’ve been involved with this year has been the creation of a non-fiction book: a collection of short personal essays from scientists who have become activists. Alongside writing my own story and the book’s introduction, I’ve been part of its coordinating team and have had the privilege of working with other chapter authors to tell their unique stories in compelling, and sometimes emotionally vulnerable, ways (something that often doesn't come naturally to us scientists). The writing is now complete and Scientists on Survival: Personal Stories of Climate Action is due for publication in March. Alongside this evolving portfolio of roles and projects, I’ve continued to channel energy into our flourishing local environmental network YorkCliConnect, created and shared a range of resources, and supported various campaigns and change-making organisations. It’s been a particularly big year of action for Nature restoration, clean water and the Climate and Nature bill, as well as for challenging practices in the fossil fuel, biomass and insurance industries that are exacerbating the threats to life on Earth.  Feelings & LearningsLeaving the lab behind came with some feelings of sadness and loss, and it was nerve-wracking to take a leap to a very different way of working… but thanks to the incredibly heartening support I have had and to the people and organisations who’ve chosen to work with me, it’s been an overwhelmingly positive and rewarding transition. In the work I do now I’m finding it much easier to see impact and progress within a more tangible timeframe. I’m being invited into spaces where there’s an appetite for change and I have the chance to help it grow. I feel valued and trusted by the teams I now work within, as well as by the people I interact with more transiently in the course of my freelance work. Some adjustments have been more difficult: adapting to a lot of remote work and a lack of routine hasn’t been seamless, and perhaps because my work feels more impactful and purpose-driven, it’s been harder to find balance. But with experience and the guidance of the community around me, I’m (gradually!) learning to recognise and avoid patterns of overwork and exhaustion. Alongside learning to work in different ways, my experiences in 2024 have really helped me develop confidence and competence as a writer, speaker and freelancer. In particular, the process of tailoring approaches and messages to better engage specific audiences has become more intuitive, and I’ve also come to appreciate the surprising power of the personal story (I intend to write more about this!). More than ever before, I’ve seen the enabling and supportive strengths of community; my friends, partner and activist family provided me so much encouragement as well as practical support to make this transition, and an even bigger network has made that transition a success. To name just a few of those contributors specifically, I’m hugely grateful to: Matthew, George and the wider team at AimHi Earth; my community energy colleagues Rich and Kirsten; fellow book coordinators Caroline and Viola and all the other scientists who have contributed to this project and the wider movement; everyone involved in environmental campaigning and activism - it’s been a particularly tough year but there’s been a lot to be proud of; last but not least Caroline, Sophia, Zoe, Curly and Dom whose care and wisdom has meant more than I can articulate. Going forwardsMuch of the work I started this year will continue into 2025, but in order to work more sustainably and impactfully I’m making a commitment here to refine what I focus on. Previously I’d intended to reach as many people as possible but now I’ll aim to prioritise bringing the most essential climate and nature science to those with the most power – and therefore responsibility – to accelerate necessary system change. In practice this means a shift in my community-based roles to focus less on delivering training, instead supporting others to gain confidence in doing so. It also means spending more time and energy engaging groups I’m currently less familiar with or comfortable within, specifically in corporate and political spaces.
I’m looking forward to sharing our book, to seeing the impact of our new and refreshed training course, and overall to helping nurture understanding of climate and nature science in ways that grow our collective ability to act and adapt in a rapidly changing world.
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Always a scientist12/30/2024 Personal reflections at the end of a 15 year chapter in academic research science. ‘Scientist’ is usually the first word I use to describe myself, and that's probably because throughout my adulthood ‘scientist’ has been not only my job but something of an identity. Hence my exit from academic research this year has felt like a massive transition personally as well as professionally. But as much of a wrench as it has been to leave the lab bench behind me, the data, the evidence, my head and my heart are aligned on this one: in an era that will be defined by how we respond to compounding existential threats, it’s time to find a new way of being a scientist. ONCE A SCIENTIST...Scientific research can be such an incredible job to get to do. You’re tasked with observing, investigating and documenting a slice of the as-yet-unknown. You could well be the first – or even the only – person to witness or understand something amazing about the fabric of our world. It was surprisingly easy to lose that sense of wonder whilst immersed in competitive pursuit of the data, publications, funding and accolades that make it possible to keep climbing the career ladder in academia. But now, outside of that environment, I’m grateful to be able to look back with fondness on the tens of thousands of hours I spent planning experiments, tending to colourful flasks of assorted microbes, peering down increasingly fancy microscopes, developing those dreaded Western blots, then processing, analysing and sharing the insights this all generated. I’d really thought that my life in science would stay something like this until a comfortable retirement sometime in the 2060s. But about half a century ahead of schedule, its course started to look very different.  As a researcher studying malaria parasites and later similar types of environmentally-important ocean microbes, I’d felt motivated by the idea that we were making a meaningful contribution to improving lives and preventing suffering. But, catalysed by growing public concern about climate change in 2018, I’d found myself conflicted about the narrative that my research career was a noble pursuit, or something that would ultimately benefit humanity. I’d started to ‘zoom out’ and see the wider context I was working within: one where thousands of scientists had clearly identified imminent, existential threats; one where transforming our societies is the only way to prevent their collapse… but where we’re still struggling to translate knowledge into the action needed to protect life on Earth. Despite wide acknowledgement of the climate and ecological emergency, and despite rhetoric around environmental sustainability, very little about the culture and daily experience of working in research science was changing around me. It was an uncomfortable paradox that I felt badly equipped to navigate - the new ‘normal’ was, on the surface of it, to accept that we’re facing crises that will profoundly change our lives… whilst simultaneously continuing with our work pretty much unchanged by that knowledge (though perhaps paying a bit more attention to plastic recycling). I found this confusing, especially amongst the research community, who I’d assumed to be in a prime position to understand and respond to what the science was telling us. In their article “No research on a dead planet” my friend Dr Aaron Thierry and co-authors explore why this ‘double reality’ currently prevails: none of us are immune to powerful psychological incentives to minimise or suppress our knowledge and feelings about frightening information, but – vitally – we each do have agency and opportunity to overcome these barriers and start to play a role in creating necessary, transformative change in our systems, institutions and societies. For me it was feelings of fear, despair and isolation – not of duty nor agency – that first led me to find community as part of environmental social movements. I was especially drawn to spaces where scientists were organising, and all I’ve learned there has evolved my perception of what a scientist’s role could or should be in the 21st century (summarised here and potentially the subject of a future blog post). It empowered me to be braver, to explore how a scientist can make a positive impact within and beyond their job. So, alongside making various transitions in my lifestyle and research direction, I began, initially tentatively, to talk much more openly about the disruption of Earth’s life-supporting systems, my fears and feelings about what that meant for us, and my experiences of taking action in response. At work I attempted to start conversations about how academics might support and accelerate positive transformations, to activate people in leadership positions, to push for accessible and impactful environmental education and to build networks. Beyond the lab, I found many other avenues where a science background together with experience in advocacy and activism could be usefully combined; from facilitating workshops in my local community to amplifying scientists’ warnings through campaigning and direct action. ... Always a scientist?Overall I’ve been very fortunate to have had a positive experience in moving from knowing about to acting upon the climate and ecological emergency. The reactions of colleagues, friends, family and the wider public along the way have largely been encouraging and motivating, though there have been challenging complexities, tensions and occasional hostility. Amongst the more painful have been in recognising and attempting to counter the inertia that persists within academia – a home I had, maybe naively, thought I’d be effectively-placed to help activate from within. Like many scientists I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with (including the authors of these calls-to-action), I still believe in the potential of the scientific research community, and of universities in particular, to foster and adapt to rapid change in our environment and societies. However, my own attempts to cultivate engagement and action have felt much less constrained – and ultimately more effective – where I’ve been working outside of any academic role, instead acting as a scientist in wider society.  The work I now prioritise focuses on exactly that; bringing the most essential science out of academic silos and into the places it needs to be understood and acted upon. In 2024, those included public and community spaces, local and national government, and, via an innovative educational start-up, some of the world’s biggest corporations. I don’t feel any less a ‘scientist’ having made a leap out of the research spaces that had become comfortably familiar. I’m still discovering, learning, experimenting, analysing and communicating, only now I use different methods in different environments to better align my actions with addressing broader, more urgent questions and challenges. I miss the lab, the students, the microbes and the associated moments of awe that were part of my life as a more traditional academic scientist, but I’m excited by the opportunities and impact that are already part of this new chapter.
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I’m often asked to give an overview of the science of the climate and nature emergency in something like ten minutes…. and this is no small task. How can we capture the interconnected threats to life on Earth, conveying the vast scale and the urgent, urgent need for transformative action? How can we do that for audiences that we don’t know much about, who may not have had the opportunity to think very seriously about these difficult subjects before? How can we do that in a way that tells the whole truth but doesn’t throw those who hear it into a state of overwhelm, denial, or despair… but instead empowers and motivates? Is it possible to do this in ten minutes??? It feels important to try, and to find out! So I’ve challenged myself to sit down for just one hour and write down what I think are the absolute core things - without getting distracted by the details however important they are/feel - that any person needs to know to start on their own journey from knowing to acting. It won’t be polished, it won't be perfect - but it can form the basis of something that can be tested and refined. It’s what I know and communicate all the time, so I should have the really core message at my fingertips, right? It feels daunting nonetheless, but here goes…. Our Climate & Nature Emergency: the bare essentialsIf there were just a few key things I wish as many people as possible would know, but also feel about the climate and ecological emergency… they would be something like these: The threats are massive and widely underestimated. Humans face escalating fires, floods, food shortages and consequent health and societal crises. It’s happening NOW, having a devastating impact on millions of people and countless other species around the world already. The impacts will get worse, and are likely to do so very rapidly. Every person and every species will experience those impacts. This is extremely unfair globally, socially and intergenerationally. Current actions are nowhere near enough. We need to transform our mindsets and systems if we are to secure a liveable future for ourselves, for future generations and for other species. We can make a difference but only if we act now and act together. Here is a brief summary of what I mean by each of these… The threats are massive, and widely underestimated
It’s happening now.
The impacts will get worse
This is extremely unfair
Current actions are nowhere near enough.
We can make a difference
So those were the words that flowed onto a blank page when I gave myself an hour to get them out. I gave myself an hour… I took almost two. But I know if I hadn’t set that intention I would otherwise have obsessed over referencing and phrasing and would have been less likely to home in on the absolute essentials. I intend to look at this with fresh eyes, perhaps add some visuals (and maaaaybe even a reference or six) to make it more engaging and useful to anyone who reads it. |
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