(Paris) Glaciologist Peter Neff patiently explains how the Earth’s past climate can be revealed in ancient ice. We are not in a classroom, but on TikTok where, like him, scientists are trying to strengthen knowledge about climate change.
From Antarctica where he is on a mission, with his mustache covered in frozen droplets, the University of Minnesota researcher presents his 220,000 subscribers with frozen samples 100,000 years old. “The greenhouse gases trapped inside the tiny air bubbles they contain carry valuable information,” @icy_pete points out, bringing the translucent nugget closer to the camera.
Some of his videos have gone viral on Gen Z’s favorite platform, seen and liked in some cases by tens of thousands of people.
“TikTok allows me to give people a lens through which they can experience being a climate scientist in Antarctica,” Neff told AFP.
Fighting fake news
The glaciologist is one of 17 tiktokers and Instagrammers featured in the “Climate Makers to Watch in 2023” list, a collaboration between the outlet, startup Pique Action and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Some experts, like Peter Kalmus, are also using the Chinese social network as a sort of megaphone to urge climate action.
The NASA climatologist started posting videos on the platform after being arrested during a civil disobedience action organized by the group Scientist Rebellion in Los Angeles in April 2022.
“When you engage in an action of civil disobedience, you take a risk to try to have a positive benefit on society”, explains Peter Kalmus to AFP. “So you want this action to be seen by as many people as possible.”
Kalmus’ most viral video to date shows him chained to the gates of the Wilson Air Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, delivering a speech protesting CO emissions.2 private jets.
The researcher sees his @climatehuman channel as a way to motivate people, especially young people, to become activists. It also wants to ensure the dissemination of accurate information on the climate emergency.
Spreading climate knowledge on TikTok is key to counteracting climate-related misinformation, says Doug McNeall, a UK Met Office climatologist and senior lecturer at the University of Exeter.
“Climate scientists need to show up,” says McNeall, active on TikTok under the username @dougmcneall.
“Normal people”
“We have a responsibility to ensure that people who willfully promote climate disinformation do not have the opportunity to score too easily,” he adds.
An analysis by public interest think tank Advance Democracy found that the number of views of TikTok videos using seven hashtags promoting climate change denialism, such as “#ClimateScam” and “#FakeClimateChange”, increased by more than 50 % in the year 2022, reaching 14 million views.
But how to succeed in capturing the attention of a young audience, the majority of the TikTok audience, on subjects that are a priori difficult?
“My strategy for engaging young people on TikTok is similar to my approach to teaching,” Jessica Allen, lecturer in renewable energy engineering at Australia’s Newcastle University, told AFP.
“I try to engage my audience with memes or other fun things rather than delivering dry information.”
On TikTok, M.me Allen is trying to popularize renewable energy chemistry, essential to achieving carbon neutrality. And when she’s not sharing clips explaining complex chemical reactions, @drjessallen also posts dances in her lab.
“Scientists are normal people who can have fun,” she argues.
Because deconstructing the image of the researcher stuck in his laboratory can help climate experts reach a wider audience.
“We often make the mistake of trying to make science seem perfect, not flawed like we all are,” says Ms.me Neff. “On TikTok, we show the human foundation of our research.”