The Difference That a Community Can Make
I have just attended the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, or CUWiP. It was online for the first time thanks to the pandemic, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The website says, “The goal is to encourage undergraduates to continue in physics by focusing on their development as a scientist and showcasing options for their educational and professional futures” and they had events like a Wikipedia edit-a-thon, a bunch of talks and panels, and a talk from the esteemed physicist Jocelyn Bell Brunel.
The experience was valuable in a way that I hadn’t expected. I definitely enjoyed all of the talks and activities, but more than that, it felt to empowering to be in a room full of people who look just like you. It isn’t something you experience, ever, as woman in physics so it’s a feeling that you don’t even know that you’re missing. To be able to see yourself as just a scientist rather than a female scientist removes this burden of insecurity that you don’t even realise that you’re carrying around.
Specifically, being in a room of women, there was a lot of things that I really appreciated. For one, no one tried to talk over each other. If anyone accidentally interrupted someone else, they would apologise and take turns. This honestly led to a much better discussion since it wasn’t a matter of who is louder, and people were comfortable pausing to think. It was also freeing to be able to talk about your experiences without having them instantly negated. We talked about how we often had to be careful with our words to be mindful of men’s egos (lest it get into a ‘not all men’ discussion, or worse, actual violence) but among other women not only were those experienced validated, but often everyone else had experienced something similar and were nodding along. Another pattern I noticed was that in every single talk, the question was asked “Have you ever felt like an imposter- and what did you do about it?”. I think this is because women don’t see themselves as scientists because we’re seen as female scientists. As other, or less than. We often feel like we have to prove that we’re “not like other girls” because of this preconceived notion that girls are less capable. It was so empowering for that weight to be lifted off for those three days
It made me think about how important it is to have a community. My community for a long time has been specifically women in physics rather than just physicists -being in physics as a woman, your core experiences are more defined by being a woman rather than an accomplished scientist. Which sucks. But this community is really powerful. We work to let girls know that they can be scientists, to create a safe environment at work, to remove barriers for women who come after us, to support each other through out experiences with misogyny. Together, we create a massive amount of change.
The same is true in terms of Climate Change. It is really powerful for groups of people with the same experiences and beliefs to come together to enact change. I am a part of the plant-based community and by supporting plant-based substitutes and supporting each other’s beliefs that animal agriculture is harmful, we have helped the alternative milk industry to surpass cow’s milk and made plant-based meat more accessible and cost-effective than regular meat. This is a big criticism of eating plant based, that it can’t make a difference (and I agree with a lot of the sentiment) but when entire communities come together and make choices like this, or choices to support electric vehicles, or to lobby against fossil fuels, that’s when we can make big changes.
I’m hoping to go into sustainability in the near future. But to be successful in that, I think it’s really important to find a strong community to have my back. It can be exhausting fighting climate change when you’re faced with people who value the economy over the planet, and I’ve learnt from CUWiP that it’s an incredibly powerful feeling to know that you’re not alone. I’ve been writing these blogs to educate myself and hopefully some of you, but I want to take it further and find my place in the science communication community, and specifically the sustainability subsection of that.
My advice from this experience is to find your people. This is something that they don’t teach you in school, and something that I’m still trying to work out myself especially as someone with anxiety. If you have the opportunity to go to conferences, definitely take it. CUWiP was invaluable, but there are also ones for astronomy, for students, for sci comm. Conventions are also great for your hobby or passion, and a lot of sci fi conventions will have scientists. Social media is also a great way to meet people from around the world. Tik Tok, for example, has lot of different sides like “book tok” or “plant tok”, or there are subreddits for everything you can imagine. I’ll leave some climate change and sustainability communities below for you to check out. No matter what you're into, there will be people who love it just as much as you. And that includes the planet.
Climate Change / Sustainability Communities:
Reddit:
- #supportlocal
- #ecofriendly
- #sustainablefashion
- #sustainable
- #zerowaste
- #sustainableliving
- #environment
- #recycle
- #eco
- #reuse
- #savetheplanet
- #gogreen
- #climatechange
- #ethicalfashion
- #upcycle
- #plasticfree
- #bethechange
- #ecofashion
- #ecoliving
- #recycling
- #ecofriendlyproducts
- #ecology
- #fairtrade
- #consciousliving
- #bamboo
- #ethicallymade
- #reducereuserecycle
- #biodegradable
- #environmentallyfriendly
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