Reflections from a Climate Scientist
Climate change is a topic that both fascinates and frustrates me. Before I moved to Mull to talk to people about whales all day, I was a climate researcher. My master's degree is in Climate Change and I spent a few years researching the role of our oceans in modulating climate. I was a biogeochemical oceanographer, which is a lot of letters to say I looked at the carbon cycle in the sea.
Siobhan in Antarctica while on a research expedition in 2014
It constantly frustrates me that we keep having to debate this topic. It is beyond question that human activity is impacting our climate, and that we must act to avoid catastrophe. What is still up for debate is exactly how our activity will change our world and how soon.
Something that particularly fascinates me about our climate is that we cannot look at it on its own. Our climate is part of a dynamic system and responds to small scale things like plankton, as well as massive scale things like the orbit of the Earth. When we look at the question of modern-day rapid climate change, we can’t just look at something like fossil fuel emissions in isolation to predict how the climate will change. The response of each tiny component of our system depends on the response of every other component, and their interactions and reactions will change how the overall system responds…it’s not simple to predict. If we increase CO2 emissions, we can’t just plug a number into a simple equation to get how the temperature will change. Cumulatively these different factors amplify or reduce how our climate responds to human activity. This complexity can be overwhelming, but I strongly feel that the uncertainty makes it more urgent that we act, rather than less. We don’t need the ‘science’ to give us a definite answer – the fact that it is difficult to predict just how dramatically our climate will change should be an incentive for caution.
It’s also a fallacy to think of the climate crisis in terms of ‘global warming’. Global warming makes us think of long hot summers – something those of us living in Scotland wouldn’t complain to see more of! However human activity isn’t just going to bump up the thermostat a few degrees; we will see changes in weather patterns, increased storms, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, sea level rise… the list goes on. It’s overwhelming. All these complex issues, at such a huge scale and with such huge unknowns. It would be easy to feel defeated, to feel helpless in the face of it all, but there is hope. Hope that the little things we do – recycling, cutting down on single use, driving less etc. – will collectively have a big impact. Hope that our voices will be heard – through social media, through campaigns, and at the ballot box. Hope that new technologies, and the next generation will find new solutions. Hope that COP26 will make a difference.
I actually find something incredibly beautiful about the idea of the world as a whole dynamic system that we are a part of. We are part of a living, breathing, chaotic system and as we change the world, the world changes us in return. Think of the oceans as the lungs of the system – healthy seas will breathe in carbon and exhale oxygen. But unhealthy, polluted seas will struggle and our climate will suffer.
Whales too play an important role in our Earth’s system – whale poo helps circulate nutrients, and draws carbon from the atmosphere into our oceans. Whales are considered an ‘indicator species’ – the health of whale populations indicates the health over the marine environment as a whole. Thus, efforts to conserve whales will improve the wider marine environment, which means healthier ‘lungs’ and the Earth will breathe easier and better modulate climatic changes. Advocating for better protection for whales, is advocating for prevention against further biodiversity loss, fighting for healthier seas, and a more resilient climate system.
I may no longer be working directly on the problem of climate change as an academic, but I do think I can have more of a personal impact in my role here. I didn’t love writing computer code all day, but I do love sharing my passion for our seas with other people.
I firmly believe that the work of HWDT, and my role as Community Engagement Officer, takes positive action in response to modern day rapid climate change and the global biodiversity crisis. I hope that by inspiring and informing people about the incredible creatures in our seas we will all care more, and feel empowered to take action to tackle climate change. Although it’s might be easier to feel overwhelmed about the challenges ahead of us, it is better to get impassioned, empowered and work to make a difference. You only have to get out and experience our natural world to see something worth making that effort for.
