What lizard research can say about the future of our work

How an exchange with a lizard scientist made me reflect on the future of POWHR.

This blog post was written by POWHR’s Advocacy Manager, Lief Hurt.

Samuel Sweet and Eric Pianka may have both been tackling a similar task, but their approach to studying monitor lizards couldn’t have been more dissimilar.

Sweet’s approach was patient: he carefully captured the lizards to implant radio trackers, then observed their behaviors over months to better understand the elusive creatures. Pianka had a quicker approach: he reached into his holster, pulled out a pistol and POW! “Oh boy,” he said, “Let’s see what its last meal was!”2

The fight against fossil fuels and towards a livable future involves balancing patience and urgency. At times we are hurriedly writing a press response while juggling phone calls from local community members about the breaking news. Sometimes we are rallying community responses to an unfairly brief comment period for a regulatory agency decision. And in between all of the work, we are trying to take care of ourselves and our loved ones so that we can keep doing the work we viscerally believe in. 

Sweet’s work mirrors the patience and long-term vision integral to relationship and coalition building in climate justice movements. As a grassroots organization, POWHR believes that sustained, impactful movement building must center impacted voices, and in order to engage impacted people, we must build relationships and trust with them. 

Pianka’s emphasis on decisiveness highlights the importance of quick responses in times of environmental crises, such as oil spills, pipeline explosions, wildfires, or floods. Rapid responses in these situations are crucial to preventing further damage and mitigating immediate threats to ecosystems and communities, including through reactive protests, press responses, or utilizing (often unfairly short) public comment periods to demand action from politicians, regulators, and corporations. 

Sweet and Pianka’s methods have provided unique, valuable data and insight in monitor lizard ecology. Similarly, understanding and blending both patience and urgency in movement spaces can lead to better strategies and more comprehensive and equitable solutions. Ruha Benjamin reminds us: 

“To imagine and craft the worlds we cannot live without, just as we dismantle the ones we cannot live within.” 

In this spirit, just as Sweet and Pianka’s different methodologies contributed to current understanding of monitor lizards, diverse voices and tactics are essential for shaping effective movement and coalition spaces. As we are driven to confront the challenges of our era—climate change, social inequalities, and late-stage capitalism—it is crucial that we continually and intentionally empower communities and individuals to not only participate in but to actively shape our shared futures, rather than just inheriting them.

The late Eric Pianka had a recurring nightmare where he died and arrived at a set of pearly gates only to be confronted by fifty-thousand some-odd lizards he’d collected throughout his career. Every one of them demanded a justification, which panicked Pianka because he couldn’t possibly recall all the reasons one by one.

To me, this nightmare speaks to how much Pianka cared about the impact of his work. Each life mattered enough to him that the lizards came to him individually in his sleep. I feel a similar connection to each community member I work with. It is critical to me that no community or individual is left behind in our fight for a livable future. 

I regularly ask myself, who is included in discussions about our future and how does that impact our collective vision? This guiding question helps me hold myself accountable to POWHR’s belief that the future is inclusive and bold. As the fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline shifts into a new stage and the climate crisis intensifies, this means continually working to build on intersectionalities, uplifting marginalized voices, and working to not only meet immediate needs, but also lay the groundwork for long-term justice and sustainability, all while meeting folks where they are today.

That is why POWHR is organizing community-led, consensus-based convenings to determine our needs for climate resiliency, using a tool called People’s Movement Assemblies (PMAs). These assemblies will allow us to plan as a community for our long term needs as we face the climate crisis. We will create the transformational, inclusive space we need, given the failure of our government to listen to our demands and take meaningful climate action. If you want to learn more, you can attend this virtual informational session on August 5, 2024, or save the date for our first PMA at the Newport Community Center on September 22, 2024.

1 Visit this compilation of Sweet’s publications to learn more about monitor lizards.

2 Eric Pianka’s specimens were archived for future research. Many still exist today so that future scientists can consult them in their work.