Vernon Morris had often felt invisible in a profession defined by observation. As a climate scientist, he's encountered racist behavior at every level of his field.
Feelings of isolation marked his early days analyzing atmospheric ozone chemistry, with virtually no Black peers. Morris has weathered groundless police harassment, been mistaken for a janitor and was once stopped at a science conference, despite wearing a speaker name badge, as he made his way to the podium to give a speech.
The geosciences, which includes climatology, is home to the least diverse population of Ph.D. candidates among the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, said Morris. The problem with U.S. climate science, Morris said, is the cohort of scientists publishing in science journals was produced by schools that perpetuate de facto social and class filters. That means many of those in the higher echelons of climate academia have limited interactions with Black and other people of color, said Morris, who is a professor of chemistry and environmental sciences at Arizona State University.
The narrow demographic limits scientists' perspectives, and consequently their output. Research in critical areas has largely failed to address concerns of the larger population, Morris said. When scientists don't monitor air and water continuously and don't watch storm patterns, they can't help save lives and boost livelihoods. In this way, racism also generates an incomplete picture of the world that can limit policymaking, leaving many millions of people facing disproportionate harm from growing threats.
Morris has been working to right these wrongs. He's been encouraging students of color to enter a field that needs them; he was a founding director of the atmospheric sciences program at Howard University, and also started a networking group for minority students called the Colour of Weather. Last year, in the wake of George Floyd's murder, Morris published a call to action signed by nine other scientists to push the geosciences to break structures that keep people of color from succeeding.
Calls to address racism are echoing around the profession.
Federal science institutions are taking steps to address disparities. The National Science Foundation formed a racial equity task force in November. NOAA created a "talent acquisition" unit to help market job opportunities within minority communities. Last year, NASA started a Justice, Equity Diversity and Inclusion Group within its Earth Science unit. It's helping NASA work with historically Black colleges and universities on Earth-observation projects.
Black and other marginalized populations have disproportionately suffered the consequences of environmental hazards, be it so-called urban heat island effects — areas made hotter by buildings and roads retaining heat — or hurricane-prone communities along the Gulf Coast and the Carolinas. The problem is also visible through a glance at what parts of the world are most saturated with scientific monitoring infrastructure: The temperate band that includes North America and Europe. While satellites have made progress in monitoring weather and dust storms of West Africa, there is still a legacy of neglect that hamstring African countries from understanding their weather.
