Global environmental challenges and how citizen science is making a difference
Image: Lydia Deacon, Lydia Deacon, Junior Evidence and Engagement Officer, Westcountry Rivers Trust who works with citizen science projects.
In the June 2022 guest blog, Dr Yoseph Araya, Senior Lecturer in ecology and environmental sciences at The Open University, looks at the importance of citizen science in addressing environmental concerns how individuals and communities can get involved.
The current environmental challenges facing our earth are dire: from habitat loss such as destruction of forests, to disappearing species, pollution and of course, changing climate. These losses also mean the loss of the many ecosystem services that nature provides including resources for food and shelter, supporting the functioning of natural cycles (like water, nutrients) and the various cultural/aesthetic benefits of natural environments. To many, it may look like a hopeless situation, and one may feel powerless to effect change. Despite this, there are glimmers of hope, as we are becoming increasingly appreciative and active towards understanding and addressing environmental issues.
In this connection, there are increasing number of people and initiatives being undertaken at both local and global levels to address priority environmental issues: whether it is tackling plastic pollution, reducing greenhouse emissions to tackle climate change, or getting international agreements on biodiversity protection. These actions range from voicing concern by the likes of Greta Thunberg for higher level governance agreements, to practical activism like tree planting initiatives by the late Wangari Maathai. Of course, there is many an action being undertaken by individual members of the public to make their lifestyle environmentally friendly, as well as businesses responding to this push.
The number of global and local successes so far, even if limited, demonstrate that if we are determined and work together, we can make a substantial impact to tackle our global challenges. Just consider the Covid19 pandemic where science and the public demonstrated that solutions could be found and implemented more rapidly and effectively than we could have imagined.
In this short video, David Attenborough talks about how to save the planet:
One way in which the general public has been involved in environmental issues, is through engagement in citizen science. Citizen science refers to how members of the public get involved in supporting, co-producing and/or implementing scientific research activities such as environmental monitoring. The active involvement of citizens supports the scientists in their investigations cost-effectively, by helping to supply useful data across large geographical scales and time scales. Consider the local UK example of the Big Garden Birdwatch Christmas bird count run annually by the Royal Society for Protection of Birds, where members of the public report bird visitors to their garden, all over the country for more than 40 years. This has enabled scientists and decision makers to monitor bird populations, alert us of concerns and plan interventions. Not only is this useful for scientific and decision-making bodies, but also acts as a way of learning and engaging with environmental issues for the general public. Imagine millions of households among the public, acting as ambassadors of change and for e.g., introducing biodiversity friendly gardens, which will go far in supporting our bird populations. This is just an example for birds but many ideas from monitoring water to food-waste and even stars can be introduced to the public for participation. Despite citizen science being old, tracing its history to 18th Century, the progress of technology, mass communication and availability of knowledge has improved our engagement and appreciation of science, with many projects available online. The Scistarter website has many ideas collated for citizens to engage in a project of their interest. It goes without saying that engaging with the public is also a good way, by scientists, of building accountability to the taxpayer which often funds their work.
Ready to engage in citizen science?
It is easy to engage with citizen science activities. What you need is as simple as (1) Find a topic that appeals to you, whether it is plants, animals, water or air. You may check organisations of interest you have and any projects they are running e.g. Earthwatch (2) Find a project by visiting existing projects such as in Scistarter or even create your own as in nQuire. (3) Engage in your project directly yourself or via the organisations you like. (4) Lastly, share your results with your school, via social media or subject specific organisations.
All throughout keep safe and don’t forget to enjoy the journey of discovery.
VIDEO: How to start with citizen science projects from Scistarter: https://youtu.be/XLk03c6ypEc
Resources:
nQuire project: explore your world - https://nquire.org.uk/
iSpot: explore nature and share with a community - https://www.ispotnature.org/
Citizen science and globally biodiversity: free course from Open University - https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/citizen-science-and-global-biodiversity/
Science Starter: choose a citizen science project to do - https://scistarter.org/
European Citizen Science Association: a professional society https://ecsa.citizen-science.net/
You can make a difference: Tackling eco-anxiety: https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/are-you-suffering-from-eco-anxiety/p073zgqd
About the author:
Dr Yoseph Araya is a Senior Lecturer in ecology and environmental sciences at The Open University. Yoseph’s current research and teaching focuses on understanding water and nutrients for managing plant coexistence in species-rich ecosystems; valuing nature services to the environment and human wellbeing and engaging in citizen science (i.e., science supported by the general public). Recently, he was an academic consultant to the BBC’s Green Planet documentary TV series.
Image with permission of Lydia Deacon and the Westcountry Rivers Trust/Connecting the Culm project. About Us – Connecting the Culm