Alarmed by Climate Change, Astronomers Train Their Sights on Earth

A growing number of researchers in the field are using their expertise to fight the climate crisis.

"We have this beautiful diversity of life that took us more than 2.5 billion years to reach," she said. Now, over just a few hundred years, humans have altered Earth's hard-won atmosphere and endangered its unique biodiversity.

"That's very selfish," she added. "I feel like I have the responsibility as an astronomer, and as an inhabitant of this planet, to take care of it."
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Dr. Rodgers conceded that some scientists consider it irresponsible to involve themselves in political matters, but she argued that climate change was not political. “The physical world doesn’t listen to politicians,” she said. “It follows its own laws.”

That human-caused emissions are disrupting Earth’s carbon cycle “is established science,” Dr. Rodgers added. “There’s no risk to scientific credibility to state that emphatically.”

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