Skip to main content
Read page text
page 22
CLIMATE ACTIVISM Climate: Code Red As the need for action on climate change and species loss becomes more urgent, an increasing number of scientists are turning to environmental activism. Emma Wrake AMRSB speaks to some of them At a time when United Nations SecretaryGeneral António Guterres has declared that the planet is facing a ‘climate emergency’, activism is playing a substantial role in forcing social and political responses to the crisis. Across nations, everyone from schoolchildren to retirees are joining climate activism groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future to call for radical action to tackle the environmental crisis. Among these people are scientists who, whether it be through outrage, despair or a sense of duty, feel the time has come to do more than just provide society with scientific information. Formed in the UK in May 2018, Extinction Rebellion (or XR) is a group that aims to use nonviolent civil disobedience to ‘halt mass extinction and minimise social collapse’. Since 2018 XR has grown steadily into an international movement, with thousands taking part in disruptive non-violent ‘uprisings’, from naked demonstrations in the House of Commons to sit-ins, blockades and marches. Last autumn eight people from the group were arrested after spraying the Treasury building with fake blood from a fire truck, and XR blockades bought central London to a standstill. “I have been in despair that much too little is being done to save the natural world and to reverse our destruction of the environment. XR’s activities gave me some hope” Professor James Bullock TIME TO TAKE ACTION These actions have attracted global attention and a spectrum of reactions, ranging from celebrity support to accusations of extremism. Yet as of March this year more than 1,500 scientists have signed a declaration of support for XR’s aims, including hundreds of academics from the life sciences. Many are members of the group or related subgroups such as Scientists for Extinction Rebellion. One of them is Professor James Bullock, an ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. With more than 30 years of experience in conservation and management of the natural world, Bullock is particularly interested in restoring habitats and landscapes to benefit biodiversity and increase resilience to environmental change. 18 / The Biologist / Vol 67 No 3
page 23
“I have for a long time been in despair that much too little is being done to save the natural world and to reverse our destruction of the environment. XR’s activities gave me some hope,” he says. Bullock initially took part in an XR ‘die-in’ (a form of protest where activists lie down and pretend to be dead, disrupting people’s movement). “Meeting up and joining in with XR scientists at the October Rebellion gave me a focus and milieu through which I felt I could use my scientific knowledge to contribute to XR.” XR protests have divided public opinion. Some in London were criticised as disproportionately disruptive for low-wage workers attempting to get to work, and in early 2020 leaked internal documents from the UK’s counter-terrorism unit listed XR as an extremist group. But Bullock says that criticisms of the group as extremists are “hysterical reactions by certain people in authority” and a threat to nonviolent protest. He believes that freedom of speech is “central to science and its contribution to society”. Sarah Peters, a medical student at the University of Oxford, believes that the climate crisis “transcends political opinion”. She feels “a duty to ensure people are aware of the facts of climate change, enabling them to act with full comprehension of the current situation”. Peters came to the attention of The Biologist’s editor, Tom Ireland, on a train travelling to London during Storm Ciara in February. “In the middle of a slow, delayed journey, she just stood up, introduced herself to the whole carriage, and explained how climate change was likely to make big storms and flooding more likely in the UK,” says Ireland. “As Brits we find this kind of thing terribly awkward, but everything she said was all perfectly true and it was probably quite affecting for the people who listened.” Peters says she felt compelled to take direct action by way of a ‘train talk’ to commuters in a bid to “nudge them to channel their frustration into action”. She thinks that scientists are well placed to join groups such as XR, whose aim to communicate environmental facts to the public aligns with researchers’ efforts to communicate the latest findings from the sciences. “I cannot in good faith stand by, knowing the current and future effects of the climate crisis, and do nothing” Sarah Peters Extinction Rebellion use performance art to try to communicate their urgent message, including visually striking ‘red brigade’ costumes. Should more scientists join these red-robed protesters in future? Vol 67 No 3 / The Biologist / 19

Page Text

View plaintext

CLIMATE ACTIVISM

Climate: Code Red

As the need for action on climate change and species loss becomes more urgent, an increasing number of scientists are turning to environmental activism. Emma Wrake AMRSB speaks to some of them

At a time when United Nations SecretaryGeneral António Guterres has declared that the planet is facing a ‘climate emergency’, activism is playing a substantial role in forcing social and political responses to the crisis. Across nations, everyone from schoolchildren to retirees are joining climate activism groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future to call for radical action to tackle the environmental crisis. Among these people are scientists who, whether it be through outrage, despair or a sense of duty, feel the time has come to do more than just provide society with scientific information.

Formed in the UK in May 2018, Extinction Rebellion (or XR) is a group that aims to use nonviolent civil disobedience to ‘halt mass extinction and minimise social collapse’. Since 2018 XR has grown steadily into an international movement, with thousands taking part in disruptive non-violent ‘uprisings’, from naked demonstrations in the House of Commons to sit-ins, blockades and marches. Last autumn eight people from the group were arrested after spraying the Treasury building with fake blood from a fire truck, and XR blockades bought central London to a standstill.

“I have been in despair that much too little is being done to save the natural world and to reverse our destruction of the environment. XR’s activities gave me some hope”

Professor James Bullock

TIME TO TAKE ACTION These actions have attracted global attention and a spectrum of reactions, ranging from celebrity support to accusations of extremism. Yet as of March this year more than 1,500 scientists have signed a declaration of support for XR’s aims, including hundreds of academics from the life sciences. Many are members of the group or related subgroups such as Scientists for Extinction Rebellion.

One of them is Professor James Bullock, an ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. With more than 30 years of experience in conservation and management of the natural world, Bullock is particularly interested in restoring habitats and landscapes to benefit biodiversity and increase resilience to environmental change.

18 / The Biologist / Vol 67 No 3

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content