Science Policy Around the Web – April 30th, 2019

By: Andrew Wright, BSc

Source: Pixabay

North American drilling boom threatens big blow to climate efforts, study finds

At a time when the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has determined that CO₂emissions must be halved by 2030 to prevent irreversible climate change (and the consequences thereof), it would appear that energy investments are following an opposite trend. According to the Global Energy Monitor’s assessment on pipeline infrastructure, 302 new pipelines are under development, 51.5% of which are being developed in North America. This reflects a current pipeline expansion investment of $232.5 billion as part of a total $1.05 trillion in investments that include processing, storage, export, and other oil and gas related expenses. Even though 80% of these pipelines are dedicated to natural gas infrastructure, should each project be completed and be fully utilized in the United States they would approximately lead to an 11% increase in national CO₂emissions by 2040 at a time when those emissions should be approaching a 75% reduction. 

            Ignoring the impacts on global climate, human health, and the associated societal cost, the authors of this infrastructure assessment argue that these pipelines may yield a poor return on their investment. To start, the output of the new North American pipelines far exceeds domestic energy demand and thereby will rely on exporting oil and natural gas to foreign markets.  However, these same markets are boosting their own capacity for fuel production and will likely be less reliant on imports from the North American market. Furthermore, renewable sources of energy have become as cheap or cheaper than their oil and gas counterparts and are expected to continue becoming more affordable as technology improves. Both of these factors threaten to upend the future market these pipeline investments will require in much the same way that cheap natural gas production disrupted the US coal market, which was relying on the same foreign export model before its collapse.

(Oliver Milman, The Guardian) 

Sexual harassment is pervasive in US physics programs

Sexual harassment is a problem across United States academia. For example, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)  report from 2018 found that within non-STEM majors roughly 22% of female respondents said they experienced sexual harassment, whereas within STEM majors that percentage ranged from 20% in the Sciences to 47% in Medicine.  However, research published in the journal Physical Review Physics Education Research shows that sexual harassment is particularly pervasive among women pursuing an undergraduate in physics. Of women who responded, 338 of 455, or 74.3%, reported experiencing harassment. In addition, 20.4% of respondents said they experienced all three forms of sexual harassment evaluated: sexual gender harassment, sexist gender harassment, and unwanted sexual attention.

            Much like the NASEM report indicated for all academic fields, the high incidence of sexual harassment observed in physics programs is correlated with negative academic outcomes for those experiencing it. This includes a negative sense of belonging and a higher propensity towards the imposter phenomenon, or attributing personal success to external factors. While large funding institutions, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, have made a stronger push recently to combat sexual harassment, it is clear that such efforts should be expanded and particular attention should be paid to certain academic fields.

(Alexandra Witze, Nature News) 

Have an interesting science policy link? Share it in the comments!