Our March 2025 Salon conversation was about operational security (OPSEC) and how to improve our security culture. The opening question “What is the biggest threat to our work?” sparked responses that converged on the theme of trust - in one another and in our institutional structures. Surveillance, including through infiltration of our groups by bad actors, is a major concern.
On Monday, January 27, the acting Director of the US Office of Management and Budget tried to put a freeze on grants and loans that many researchers rely upon. The new federal administration in the US is apparently attempting to suppress the ability of scientists to speak the truth.
A tiny fish, the Delta smelt, became a misunderstood symbol of California water policy. A California-based scientist who studied the impacts of dairy farming on water and air quality explains why the smelt is significant for understanding water quality in the Delta, and a major driver of California water shortages: Big Ag.
Our working definition of consumerism: an economic theory and social order that encourages people to buy more goods and services than they need for survival or status, based on the idea that consumer spending is the key to economic growth and individual well-being. We use nonviolent direct action to prompt reconsideration of the consumerist agenda, and seek to create a space where people can imagine alternatives like a wellbeing (buen vivir) economy.
We are filled with rage and dismay at the US election outcome. Under Trump’s leadership, we expect a direct assault on the protection of human and environmental justice at home and abroad. His election could lead to social and environmental catastrophes worse than we have ever seen.
We teamed up with XR LA for an action just outside the doors of the ESA2024 conference, calling on ecologists there to join us in action. We scientists have the privilege to know, and therefore the duty to act, on climate change.