The Myth of Neutrality in Science - For too long, the narrative of "neutrality" in science has been pervasive. Some argue that scientists should remain distant from public policy or activism, and that science itself must be free from values. But neutrality is often confused with objectivity. The truth is, science cannot and should not exist in a vacuum, untouched by the very issues it seeks to understand. Traditionally, science and activism have been seen as opposites. Science has been portrayed as the objective study of natural laws, indifferent to race, politics, or social injustice. But this view is flawed—it ignores how politics, values, and power shape both the questions science asks and the way its findings are used. Science, as a progressive force, has the power to influence change, for good or for ill. Scientists are not just detached observers. They are people—mothers, fathers, community members—who have a responsibility to society and nature. In the face of existential threats like climate change, the notion of "neutral science" is not only a myth, it's undesirable. Take climate change as an example. For decades, the science of global warming was suppressed, hidden from public view. Now, as we confront the devastating impacts of climate change, scientists are stepping out of their labs and into the streets, advocating for urgent action. The stakes are too high for silence. The science is clear, and the fossil fuel industry must be dismantled for the sake of all of us. The boundary between science and activism is no longer separate. As van Eck et al. (2024) rightly put it, “There is no evidence that engaging in climate activism undermines the credibility of the science or the scientist.” Today more than ever, a growing number of scientists are coming out of the lab and engaging in civil disobedience against the mass inaction to mitigate climate chaos. Now is the time for scientists, and all of us, to embrace activism and civil disobedience as essential tools in the fight against the climate crisis. Because remaining neutral is no longer an option.
About us
Scientists & their allies willing to tell the truth & take action on behalf of the planet https://linktr.ee/srturtleisland
- Website
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https://scientistrebellion.org
External link for Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island- US/Canada
- Industry
- Civic and Social Organizations
- Company size
- 201-500 employees
- Type
- Nonprofit
- Specialties
- biodiversity, climate, overshoot, and nonviolent civil disobedience
Employees at Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island- US/Canada
Updates
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On Friday December 6, Scientists Rebellion South West Hub took over downtown PHX at a monthly art crawl on the first Friday. The art crawl felt a powerful 645 drum beats as foot prints where chalked representing each soul who died of extreme heat in Arizona alone last year. #APStopKillingUs is a campaign against Arizona Public Service’s corporate greed led by SRTI SW. Last year, 645 humans died of excessive heat last year and 2024 is on a similar track. See our page on SR TI https://lnkd.in/g-vbeQiD
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“If the purpose of universities is to improve society and be agents of change, then it seems that (climate) ‘science-as-usual’ is failing”. This troubling observation, from a paper published by Dr Anna Pigott and colleagues last month, signals that we need new approaches within our institutions if we are to create necessary transformational change. That scientists perceive a future of dramatic change is evident from research from Samuel Finnerty, Jared Piazza and Mark Levine, published last week. Their analysis of how scientists see the future, discovered diverse framings of the unfolding climate and ecological crises. Whilst some scientists see inevitable collapse, others see some degree of transformation as achievable. The position of scientists in response to these different framings varied, from prepping to technosolutionism, with a range of activist stances in between. Activism - to delay collapse, to precipitate systemic change - was often expressed as a moral imperative on scientists and the wider public. These are fascinating insights into scientists' role in shaping societal discourse and framing action. They also highlight a burden of scientific knowledge that is leading to activism for an increasing number. Implied by this move into activism, is the emotional toll of climate knowledge. Yet our academic institutions impose norms of objectivity, rationality and restraint on scientists. What scientists feel is rarely explored. This may not simply be a problem for scientists, who live with these emotions, but it may be limiting our institutions’ ability to facilitate meaningful systemic change. Drawing on ancient wisdom, common sense and, now, evidence that emotions are fundamental to triggering systemic change Anna Pigott, Hanna Nuuttila, Merryn Thomas, Fern Smith, Kirsti Bohata, Tavi Murray, Marega Palser, Emily Holmes and Osian Elias, set up Climate Lab. Within this project, scientists and artists explored their emotions such as grief, vulnerability, shame and uncertainty. They discovered not only “relief from the cognitive dissonance of suppressing emotions” but personal connectedness and awareness of other perspectives - knowledge that is vital to “dismantling fossil capitalism [and] creating a fairer, more inclusive and more ecologically-sensitive institutions and societies”. Despite the pressures of cultural norms, scientists are responding to the experience of their knowledge in creative and energetic ways. Exploring the emotions experienced by scientists seems as radical as the activism that stems from these emotions - and both are expressions of the desire to address the changes that are, and will increasingly be, impacting us all. Finnerty et al., 2024, “Climate futures: Scientists' discourses on collapse versus transformation” https://lnkd.in/eicVkMvu Pigott et al., 2024, ““No one talks about it”: using emotional methodologies to overcome climate silence and inertia in Higher Education” https://lnkd.in/e7MCCmN2
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This past December 9th Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island and Climate Defiance along other climate activist groups demanded that Senator Padilla leverage that oversight relationship with the Department of Energy to push for action to stop new LNG export terminals. The Climate Activists call on Senator Padilla to use his position to pressure the Department of Energy to deny six pending permits for LNG export terminals before the Trump administration takes office next month. If completed, these projects would have an impact on the climate equivalent to 1,000 coal-fired power plants. The protest comes amid rising pressure on the Biden administration to take bold climate measures in its remaining weeks before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office. Activists are demanding swift action to safeguard the planet. Read about it here --> https://lnkd.in/g3ipmwfS
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Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island- US/Canada reposted this
I am haunted day and night by the terrifying changes we are causing to the planetary systems we need to survive. I tell colleagues something similar to this headline: If you understood the science of climate change, you would conclude like I have that there is no other option than to become a climate activist. https://lnkd.in/g-mNsu7N
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There is so much #climate news that it is often hard to see the bigger picture The #CollisionCourse report from Breakthrough: National Centre for Climate Restoration assembles recent scientific literature to reveal the reality. 1.5ºC of warming is here and now - #GlobalWarming was 1.5°C in 2023, and 2024 will be hotter. In practical terms, the world has reached the lower end of the Paris target of 1.5-2°C of warming, and an accelerated warming rate is likely to continue to mid-century Faster than forecasted, climate extremes hit hard - Many impacts are occurring faster than expected, and beyond model projections, including the severity and frequency of extreme events and system-level #TippingPoints, and the past is no longer a good guide to what’s going to happen in the future System tipping points tumble abruptly - There is now clear evidence that a number of crucial system-level tipping points have been reached, in some cases decades to centuries earlier than had been projected The world is not decarbonising - Annual human-caused #GHG emissions continue to increase, lower emissions from electricity use are being offset by growth in other areas of energy use, and there is likely to be a slow decline in total emissions up to 2050 Petrostates and #BigOil are on the offensive - Governments and the oil industry have signalled their intention to abandon mitigation commitments and continue to expand production Warming is accelerating towards 3ºC or more - The failure to reduce emissions fast and the intention of petrostates and big oil to continue expanding production puts Earth on a path to 3°C of warming or more The physical risks are cascading and systemic - The physical risks are largely irreversible on human time frames and climate models are likely to underestimate the risks A focus on the plausible worst-case #risk scenarios is needed - Climate risks are existential, emerging faster than forecast and difficult to predict, so particular attention must be paid to where the greatest possible damage lies In 40 years, a world beyond anything humans have known - In a 3°C hotter world, extremes of rainfall, heat, flooding and drought beyond past human experience will occur, having catastrophic impacts on food and water security On the road to climate ruin - We are facing the potential collapse of natural and socioeconomic systems leading to food and fresh water shortages, rising seas, more emerging diseases, and increased social unrest and geopolitical conflict Conclusion - The urgent need is to strengthen and rebuild state institutions in order to redirect production to climate relevant, socially-necessary goals... via an emergency mobilisation that consciously makes returning to a safe climate the first priority of economics and politics You can read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eZJeA5Pq David Spratt Reproduced from https://lnkd.in/eymW4htV
COLLISION COURSE | Breakthrough
breakthroughonline.org.au
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#AGU2024 Our rebels and fellow scientists pledge not to accept fossil fuel funding for their research. Will you? This is a #climateemergency
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Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island- US/Canada reposted this
Master Coach, Coach Supervisor, Collapse Aware Coach, XR, Insulate Britain, Just Stop Oil, Concerned Citizen and Mum, Vegan - 36k followers
How proud we can be at #Britain being a "#worldleader"! (*sarcasm*) ... in repression of ordinary people speaking truth to fossil power "British police arrest environmental protesters at nearly three times the global average rate, research has found, revealing the country as a world leader in the legal crackdown on climate activism Only Australia arrested climate and environmental protesters at a higher rate than UK police. One in five Australian eco-protests led to arrests, compared with about 17% in the UK. The global average rate is 6.7% The research comes amid an outcry over the targeting of climate and environmental protesters, with a rise in the suppression of dissent around the world as the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises take hold It found an increase in the number and proportion of protests linked to climate and environmental destruction over the past decade, but argued that rather than tackling the issues provoking them, states are focusing on punishing dissent. Michel FORST, the UN special rapporteur for environmental defenders, said earlier this year: “In many countries, the state response to peaceful environmental protest is increasingly to repress rather than to enable and protect those seeking to speak up for the environment.” The latest research paints a picture of extensive repression of climate and environmental protest in the global north and south, with distinct characteristics in each region contributing to the overall trend “There is an increasing criminalisation and repression of climate and environmental protest,” said Oscar Berglund, a political economist at the University of Bristol who led the study. “These kinds of protests have increased, climate protests quite sharply, and the response to this has been a crackdown that has to be seen in the wider political sense of a breakdown in climate action.”... (see rest of article in comments) https://lnkd.in/eSCyPFJ3
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Scientist Rebellion at #AGU2024! Stop on by booth #965 - look for the gorgeous Climate Stripes and say hi to Rose Abramoff and Peter Kalmus. - Connect with activists from the DC area and beyond - Enter our raffle to win 3 free hours of climate-aware therapy/counseling from the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America - Sign our pledge to reject fossil fuel industry research funding - Grab some stickers and pins - Share your thoughts, ideas, needs, hatch plans, ask for help, join a community of practice Learn more about our AGU events here: https://lnkd.in/gbfbbz-e
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Don't mess with Mother Nature.
Scaling regenerative agriculture in Europe with Climate Farmers. Co-founder of Love Foundation, VCA NL & Hug Records. TED Countdown & BMW Responsible Leader. Studying regenerative culture & regenerative leadership.
I am a big fan of delivering a serious message with a pinch of humor and the below video is a masterpiece here. We got opposable thumbs and a cerebral cortex from Mother Nature for a reason, let's start using them to nurture her instead of fighting her. Kudos to Elle Cordova for creating this beauty and to Dario Berrebi 💡 for showing it to me.