'Hi, I'm Rhea.' 'What do you do?' 'I work in sustainability.' My standard answer is followed by a quiet, personal disengagement at what a nothing-statement that is. In simple words, my limited body of work (it is only cells and tissues of work, at this point) is focused on bringing down the environmental footprint of industries and the energy sector. I work round the clock on multiple projects and make no money. I also spend all my time worrying about the material consequences of my work.

What does it mean to be successful in the climate sphere when the crisis is only getting worse? I don’t have any promotions or job offers in Fortune 500 companies to post about on Linkedin (and thank god for that!). In academia, we are taught to move up the hierarchy of titles, but I’m not entirely convinced of this model. I am also not convinced that impact should be measured in citations if our research doesn’t make a difference to the real world. Academics also invented measures of prestige - royal societies, Oxbridge, and the Ivy League. If my climate mitigation research remains confined to scientific journals, does it matter if I work at a prestigious 'ranked' university or one that nobody has heard of?

I am an intern with a master’s degree, it will be years before my research is taken seriously and several more before I can tackle 'the big picture.' Academics claim to be 'against the system' but as the climate crisis ravages the Global South, the solutions for it are tucked away in papers that nobody will read. None of us are fighting hard enough to implement them. I am afraid that the years I spend earning credibility will waste precious time. Until now, my career has been spent applying to positions where I send in ‘please, please, please let me save the planet!’ as a covering letter. I feel like I'm running out of time. All of it has plummeted me into permanent weltschmerz.

Through this project, I hope to chronicle my observations in the climate field as a scientist, policy researcher, and activist. Your Instagram feed will be introduced to topics ranging from ionic liquids to socio-political barriers that make everything so difficult. This documentation is a small rebellion against how powerless I feel and a way to archive the unspoken desperation behind climate work. At the very least, I will be satisfied at leaving behind something in the world, even if my legacy is only a tragicomic monologue, delivered to an audience that's half-listening and fully burning.

Sources: 1. Down To Earth https://www.downtoearth.org.in/climate-change/climate-emergency-only-6-years-left-before-global-carbon-budget-for-limiting-warming-to-15c-is-exhausted 2. The Magnitude of the Challenge by Dr. Will Steffan, Australian National University. https://youtu.be/7ujKPtWCluA?si=inLsLOmgqVmV-JiC

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