Keeping up hope as an early career climate-impact scientist

Human-caused climate change is real. A message the scientific community has documented and disseminated for decades. Yet, after equally long inaction by global leadership to address climate change, the world is facing a climate emergency with unprecedented consequences for all aspects of life. As an early career researcher from a generation whose future seems quite dire, I ask myself repeatedly, how can I continue my research without losing hope that science matters, that my research matters? In this Rising tides article, I aim to illustrate my own experience and perspective of keeping up hope to continue doing purposeful research on the background of the ubiquitous social and political challenges we are facing under ongoing climate change. All with the conviction that individual and collective hope needs to be amplified to achieve the climate action, needed for a liveable future.

Automated summary

In this article, a young researcher shares their experience and perspective on how to maintain hope and continue meaningful research in the context of climate change. They emphasize the importance of amplifying individual and collective hope to achieve climate action.