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“We Know You Know…”

That was the repeated chant as we called on scientists to examine their knowledge and their conscience, and come join us on the streets.

We teamed up with XRLA for an action just outside the doors of the Ecological Society of America conference, calling on attendees to join us in action. We scientists have the privilege to know, and therefore the duty to act, on climate change. We gathered outside the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting at the Long Beach Convention Center on the final afternoon of the main conference proceedings, to call on Meeting attendees to join us in direct action to address the climate emergency.

Above: One of the main signs we used in this action, and throughout our time at ESA. Following: A music break during our street theater action.

Just outside the Conference Center doors, we staged a theatrical piece that dramatized non-scientist activists calling on scientists to join them in the fight for the future health of the planet. Passersby, including ESA attendees, received flyers encouraging them to take direct action. Scientists can and should play a key role in raising public awareness and action against the climate crisis.

We ecologists see firsthand the effects and implications of global heating, but often struggle to see how to communicate our perspective in an effective way.

“We ecologists see firsthand the effects and implications of global heating, but often struggle to see how to communicate our perspective in an effective way,” explains behavioral ecologist Jennifer Krauel. “Non-violent direct action works, and it turns out that using our voices as scientists is a great way to really boost that effectiveness.“

The ESA meeting itself was not targeted by direct action, though scientist activists hosted sessions throughout the meeting that focused on the role of scientists and science in climate activism.

Why make this call?

The data are clear – burning fossil fuels causes climate change that threatens life on Earth through global heating, sea level rise and biodiversity loss. Scientists have blared our findings to government officials, business people and citizens for decades, only to find that humans have a nearly infinite capacity to invent stories that justify inaction and continuing “business as usual”. Because scientists have a moral obligation to do all we can to end the climate crises humanity currently faces, we conclude that we must take direct action to get our political and business leaders to act NOW!

About the Teams

Extinction Rebellion – Los Angeles is a local cell of Extinction Rebellion, an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience to achieve radical change in order to minimize the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse. Our world is in crisis. Life itself is under threat. Yet every crisis contains the possibility of transformation. Across the world, heralded by the young, people are waking up and coming together.

Scientist Rebellion is a group of scientists and academics who strive to expose the reality and severity of the climate and ecological emergency by engaging in non-violent civil disobedience. The Climate Emergency Fund is Scientist Rebellion’s primary funder for recruitment, training and capacity building. This action was conducted in collaboration with the Union of Concerned Scientists and Extinction Rebellion, Los Angeles.