Statement From Members of the Earth and Space Science International Community 

We are Earth and space scientists, science communicators, and educators dedicated to the discovery of and solutions to societal challenges. We issue this joint statement to call on world governments and global leaders to do everything possible to expedite the end to the brutal Russian assault on Ukraine. We welcome other professional scientific communities to join our appeal.

1. The Earth and Space Community is an ecosystem of researchers working together and supporting each other. At this moment, our colleagues in Ukraine are being shelled with missiles and many have been forced to escape with their families from the war zone. We salute "Science for Ukraine" grassroots efforts and urge world governments to support Ukrainian students and science professionals. 

2. We recognize that many of our Russian colleagues do not condone the actions of the Russian government and military, yet their ability to do research will soon be significantly curtailed. Many of them are also risking their freedom and life to protest the war. We call on world governments to support those who want to escape Russia and bring their talents to the democratic world.

3. We are well aware of the existential risks posed by anthropogenic climate change due to our reliance on fossil fuels. As we have just witnessed, it also threatens world security by complicating a decisive joint response by world governments to deprive Russia of its primary source of war funding. We urge world governments to intensify their efforts of transitioning to renewable energy for building a more democratic and resilient world.

4. As Russia is now indiscriminately targeting Ukrainian civilians in its war of attrition – a brutal strategy it did not hesitate to follow in the past – we cannot afford to wait for another red line to be crossed. We believe that implementing and sustaining sanctions on Russia's oil and gas revenues is a necessary action requiring immediate implementation. We believe that the heroic sacrifice of the Ukrainian people in defending their democratic values will inspire most of the democratic world to endure temporary increases in the cost of oil and gas domestically.

5. We recognize the unique threat that accompanies conflict among nuclear states, and we emphasize that the consequences of even a regional-scale nuclear war could cause a global “nuclear winter” that would kill all plant life and thus eliminate our food supply and destroy human civilization as we know it. We call on world governments to reduce the possibility of destructive nuclear war and its consequential catastrophic nuclear winter. 

We call forward as a science community, together and resolute, the accountability of our governments to submit and execute these considerations. The time to act is now!