Science communication and academic activism in times of rising authoritarianism and Trumpism.

Democracies face a dual challenge. On the one hand, democratic institutions are increasingly under pressure from authoritarian, right-wing populist, and extremist actors. On the other hand, socio-ecological transformation in response to climate change requires decisive action, social solidarity, and trust in democratic institutions. These processes are intertwined: ecological crises - particularly extreme weather events - may foster democratic resilience but can also intensify authoritarian backlash, thereby undermining transformation efforts. Given that the entire science enterprise has come under attack, the question is what role should or could academics play to fight the backlash and to resist the onslaught on intellectualism and facts?

As a follow-up from last year’s short course on academic activism, here I am presenting results of a perspective piece that is analysing the current political status quo in the US based on state-of-art of behavioural and social science research. We shed light on the academic response to Trumpism and how the authoritarian onslaught has affected climate science. We provide recommendations as to how one can deal with bad-faith actors and how one can identify them to begin with? How do we change our way to communicate and rise to the challenge? How do we regain ground, get organised and bring about the necessary discomfort? In order to understand the dynamics, we dissect critical factors such as emotions, biases, neurological and psychological disorders. We discuss social shifts from a current and historical perspective. We shed light on the role of the media (legacy as well as social media). And ultimately, we offer solutions for how to communicate more effective and goal-oriented. In a climate as well as societal context.