Sessions

The climate crisis: about debates, privilege and the need for action

Maria Scheel May 15, 2024

The Friday of EGU24, scientists of Scientist Rebellion and Scientists 4 Future teamed up with the Fridays 4 Future protest in the Museumsquartier in Vienna. Photo credit: Joppe Massant.

In this blog post I am expanding on the blog post about the third EGU Climate Great Debate and its survey results on what you thought we can do as scientists. After conducting an interview with Maien Sachisthal, an active member of Scientist Rebellion, I reflected on the Great Debate and scientists within society, sharing insights on the Scientist Rebellion and Scientists 4 Future protest events t ...[Read More]

Predators or gardeners: how penguins fertilise Antarctica’s biodiversity

Anna Katsigera April 19, 2024

Sea birds contribute importantly to biogeochemical cycles in coastal ecosystems and on islands. Feeding on the marine food chain and nesting on land, they carry large amounts of marine nutrients into terrestrial ecosystems. This might be of particular importance for the nitrogen (N) cycle of terrestrial ecosystems in the antarctic. Credit: Daniel Wasner (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

On the desolate Antarctic peninsula, a colony of penguins creates a hub of biodiversity. One may ask, how exactly do those aquatic birds help maintain and enrich the variety of different kinds of organisms from plants and animals, to a wide range of insects and micro-organisms that live on our planet? The answer is quite intriguing. Scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China ...[Read More]

The EGU Great Debate: About the Anthropocene, scientists and comfort zones?

Maria Scheel April 19, 2024

Are we as scientists still in an elitist bubble, or do we need to glue ourselves to streets and buy tractors for protest? Somewhere along the lines of finding and leaving comfort zones versus the need to become uncomfortable while many globally already are, is the setting of this year’s EGU great debate (Image Credit: Maria Scheel).

EGU has hosted a Great Debate with world-renowned climate scientists and activists about the growing human impact on our natural and social environment for many years. There are many aspects to the debate, from voting bad politicians out, to communication duties of scientists, the interconnection of a need for social equity and decarbonization, and more. In this blog post, I want to focus o ...[Read More]

Turning adversity into opportunity: mapping plastic pollution in rivers

Jakub Stepanovic April 17, 2024

In July 2021, the Benelux area, Germany, and France experienced heavy rainfall followed by mass flooding, causing widespread damage. Along the vast quantities of plastic swept along the riverbanks, Rahel Hauk, a researcher from Wageningen University, conducted fieldwork to assess the impact of the flood event on plastic deposition. Amidst the debris, Hauk and her colleagues noticed a large volume ...[Read More]