My awareness journey on the climate crisis started in 2022, reading the words from Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of IPCC’s WG II: “The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future”.
I have started to question my sphere of influence as astronomer.
Astronomy is beautiful because it tells us about our past and origins. It is fascinating, stimulating human curiosity, creativity, and imagination. But astronomy offers even more, something I explored in my PhD Thesis (available here).
We, as astronomers, know how rare life on a planet is. […] We, as astronomers, know that there is no Planet B.
Projects
Astronomers for Planet Earth (A4E)
I am an executive board member of A4E.
Our mission: ”To mobilize and empower the global astronomical community to take action on the climate crisis.”
We are more than 2,300 members from 85 countries
Curious? Check out our website: https://a4e.org/
Teaching sustainability in academia
I have created and am teaching a course on sustainability in academia at the University of Vienna since 2023. This interdisciplinary course aims at understanding the role that academia can play in tackling the climate crisis.
The PLEES index
I am part of an interdisciplinary research project aiming at efficiently communicating on climate change: the PLEES index. This index takes into account the psychological, social, and economics impact of climate change worldwide and can be projected under different climate change scenarios.