World View in 2023

High-school students are all too aware of climate change, but often aren’t taught how their physics lessons can help them understand the problem and its solutions. Melissa Lord shares tips on how to bridge the gap.

Despite decades of ever more urgent warnings, humanity is failing to address the climate crisis. Astronomer and climate activist Bernadette Rodgers argues that climate action, in any number of ways, can get results and is a moral and professional responsibility for scientists at this critical moment in human history.

Gathering evidence is key to science, so it is not surprising that scientific institutions have started to report their carbon emissions. However, it is critical to go beyond reporting, and act. Even without a perfect evidence base there are actions scientists and institutions can take that will lead to lasting change, argues Astrid Eichhorn, physicist and chair of the ALLEA Working Group on Climate Sustainability in the Academic System.

Faced with the knowledge that her students would bear the brunt of the climate crisis, theoretical physicist Vandana Singh looked for ways to integrate climate education into her classroom. She advocates for a holistic approach that integrates science, transdisciplinarity, justice and action.

Reducing resource usage will improve the environmental impact of high-performance computing — but doing so can clash with the science goals of funders. Computational physicist Peter Skands explains how he approached the conflict.