Science Is Already Being Disrupted by Climate Change, And We’re Woefully Unprepared – ScienceAlert

The climate crisis poses an escalating threat to scientists everywhere and research of all kinds, scientists in Australia are now warning.

The unprecedented wildfires sweeping their nation have been a “brutal wake-up call” to a simple fact: their work is “far from immune” to climate change.

In all its physical and practical glory, science is just as vulnerable as any other industry on this planet. And yet very few universities, institutions or governments are prepared for that reality.

“Academics have analysed the climate change preparedness of almost every sector,” the authors write. 

“Ironically, this does not include the research sector, about which very little is known when it comes to climate change, despite those involved having privileged access to climate change information.”

Today in Australia, scientists are facing a myriad of challenges tied to the climate crisis. Not only are researchers dealing with devastated landscapes, they are also grappling with disrupted services, ruined belongings, insurance costs, and mental health distress.

Many of the fires have wiped out precious ecological field work, and some scientists are now facing the grim reality that many of the habitats and species they once researched no longer exist in the same way.

“As an ecologist,” an Australian entomologist recently told The New York Times, “it’s a very tragic thing to find yourself having to think about: What if my species is now extinct?”

Researcher Guy Ballard from the University of New England, Australia, in one of his long-term ecological research sites devastated by the fires. (Heath Milne)

Even research untouched by flames have been impacted by the recent fires. Some researchers, for instance, are concerned that the consequences on the surface will seep down and alter the temperature and hydrology of Australia’s caves.

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