Activists from Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island (SRTI) worked with a load of fantastic groups to offer heaps of programming for the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in Washington D.C. Dec 8-13, 2024.
Booth Buddies
The hub of our activity at AGU this year was the SRTI booth. We got the chance to connect with so many scientists. Some signed petitions or pledges to refuse funding from fossil fuel interests; a few even recorded their pledges photographically.
Peter Kalmus had an Opinion Article published in Newsweek on December 11th.
Kalmus outlines why “Climate Science and Big Oil Need to Go Their Separate Ways” and calls on AGU “to stop taking fossil fuel money and to officially state the simple truth of fossil fuel industry deception.”
Projecting Strength
A team projected climate activism messages on the walls of the conference the evening of December 10th.
We did more typical science conference stuff, too.
Pre-Conference Workshop
On Sunday Dec 8th we offered a half-day Pre-Conference Workshop: Practical Skills for Scientists to Participate in and Support Nonviolent Grassroots Activism, with amazing facilitators and guest speakers, including:
- Marla Marcum, Director of the Climate Disobedience Center
- Nathan Phillips, activist and Professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University
- Dana Fisher, Professor and Director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity at American University, IPCC WGIII contributing author, and author of Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action
Academic Presentations
We organized a poster session and an oral session on Thursday, both under the heading “Acknowledging and Sharing Our Climate Grief.” The oral session featured four fantastic speakers, and ended with a climate grief circle facilitated by the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America.
See links below for abstracts, videos and references associated with those presentations.
Social Hours
On Monday, we offered a pod discussion about Scientific Neutrality and Career Risks of Activism, co-hosted with the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, as well as a cozy meet-up at the Community Room in the nearby True Reformer Hall, co-hosted with the Climate Emergency Fund.
Thursday we connected at a local establishment to talk about activism, with some fellow good troublemakers in the DC area.
We were thrilled to be able to connect with so many of our colleagues at AGU, just as we did at ESA in the summer. We’ll probably be there again next year. Will you?
