Climate Change? Nahhh ...

Opinion | I’m a Scientist Who Spoke Up About Climate Change. My Employer Fired Me.

 

I'm sure it's fine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/11/ocean-heat-climate-change/

The amount of excess heat buried in the planet’s oceans, a strong marker of climate change, reached a record high in 2022, reflecting more stored heat energy than in any year since reliable measurements were available in the late 1950s, a group of scientists reported Wednesday.

 

Damn it, Bobby!

 

Worth reading beyond the headline on that one, for you eventually reach these words:

"Since I locked that first chain around my waist, I have been arrested three times in nonviolent actions. My superiors at Oak Ridge warned me to be careful but did not discipline me."

Another:

I’m all for decorum, but not when it will cost us the Earth.

 

sure, but

My superiors at Oak Ridge warned me to be careful but did not discipline me.

But I was motivated to continue because these scientist-led political campaigns have attracted positive media attention and contributed to major policy wins. At the end of last year, a group of us protested the impact of luxury travel at more than a dozen private airport terminals in 13 countries; within a month of our actions, the Podemos party of Spain submitted a request to the European Commission to take measures to reduce the use of private planes. When scientists take action, people listen.

The scientific community has tried writing dutiful reports for decades, with no reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels to show for it. It is time to try something new. We must work to change the culture of our institutions, be honest about our values, advocate for climate justice and experiment. Great experiments push at the boundaries of knowledge and propriety. They are risky, volatile, blasphemous. But when they work, the world changes.

Scientific institutions should support activism and advocacy, especially by experts. The A.G.U. should do more to publicly support policies informed by its members’ science, such as declaring a climate emergency and ending fossil fuel extraction and subsidies.

I did not make the decision to become an activist lightly; I recognized that my actions would have consequences, and I knew that I could face retaliation. But inaction during this critical time will have far greater consequences.

 

The piece raises lots of interesting questions about the moral and ethical imperatives of science and activism.

 

It does.

One of them is what to do when activism doesn’t pay the bills. Scapegoat your former employer, I guess.

He knew the risks. He’d been warned. He took it far enough that his employer fired him. Now it’s time to martyr oneself in the NYT and drag the lab through it.

So many people in this world are laid off for so so much less - indeed nothing at all. This guy got arrested three times and hijacked a conference.

 

she

 

I don't disagree.

Still, she raises an interesting point.

For decades, scientists have been calmly and quietly delivering their research to other calm, quiet scientists. At what point do they have to start banging the pots and pans to get some attention?

A few years ago, Scientist Rebellion, an international network of scientists concerned about climate change, began a series of strategic acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. After years of waiting in vain for meaningful public action to address climate change, I decided to join them.

For my first action, I chained myself to a White House gate to demand that the Biden administration declare a climate emergency. Since I locked that first chain around my waist, I have been arrested three times in nonviolent actions. My superiors at Oak Ridge warned me to be careful but did not discipline me.

This is an especially interesting question in light of the conflict-of-interest problems we accept as the norm on the other side of the same argument. For example:

Climate change: UAE names oil chief to lead COP28 talks

 

Sounds to me like she truly is a mad scientist.

Back to you, Ragu and Azrael.