Tag: scholars warning

No More Warnings Needed – an intransigent managerial class must be sidestepped

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Six hundred and seventy-four scholars from 53 countries, believe that “Only if policymakers begin to discuss this threat of societal collapse might communities and nations begin to prepare and so reduce its likelihood, speed, severity, harm to the most vulnerable, and to nature.” Each signatory, with doctoral degree, endorsed a public warning on societal disruption and collapse due to environmental change. They cover more than 20 major academic disciplines, including ecology and climatology, thereby conclusively demonstrating that preparations for societal collapse are being taken seriously by experts from around the world. The announcement of the final list of signatories concludes a 3-year initiative to promote awareness of the scientific basis for exploring how to reduce the damage from societal disruption, breakdown, and collapse, due to environmental change.

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Oath to the Future – by supporting young farmers

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Young people must live into the future that is likely, resulting from the damage to our planetary home, not the future that some adults pretend might still be possible. Therefore, one of the reasons I went to the COP climate summit in Egypt was to announce a scholars’ oath to the future. That’s where we committed to give greater attention to helping young people adapt to an increasingly disrupted situation because of environmental degradation and a breakdown of industrial consumer societies. 

That is why I am pleased that at Bekandze Farm we have launched our internship programme for Balinese high school students to learn regenerative farming methods. We have partnered with the State Vocational High School of Petang, which is one of just 2 government schools in Bali that teach agriculture. Together, we are helping to train the next generation of Balinese farmers. Our 12 week internship program gives students from Years 10, 11 and 12 a solid grounding in organics, permaculture and other regenerative farming methods that they would not otherwise receive through their standard curriculum. Our first intern, Ngurah, began last month. In the photo above you see him with our head trainer Pak Edi on the left, himself a graduate of the school. 

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Invitation to Sign an Oath to the Future

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The following invitation is being sent to scholars around the world in the run up to COP27 in Egypt.

Dear Scholar,

Nearly two years ago over 500 of us from over 30 countries signed a public letter to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the Paris Climate Accord. We wrote:

“As scientists and scholars from around the world, we call on policymakers to engage openly with the risk of disruption and even collapse of our societies. After five years of failing to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Paris Climate Accord, we must now face the consequences. While bold and fair efforts to cut emissions and naturally drawdown carbon are essential, researchers in many areas now consider societal collapse to be a credible scenario this century… Only if policymakers begin to discuss this threat of societal collapse might communities and nations begin to prepare and so reduce its likelihood, speed, severity, harm to the most vulnerable, and to nature.”

Over the last two years we have seen climate impacts worsen, emissions climb again, methane levels jump, the science become more worrying, and the political mood darken in many countries. We have also seen the ongoing commercialisation of climate responses, the public sugar-coating of problematic science, and concerted denigration of people who focus on radical economic change to prepare for inevitable disruptions. The climate summits have morphed into career fests and trade shows at the end of the world as we know it. Although we are unlikely to change the huge systems that incentivise poor responses from professionals in this field, we can commit to learn and support each other in taking a different path.

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100s of scholars worldwide engage on collapse risk and readiness

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In December 2020 over 600 academics signed an international Scholars’ Warning on societal disruption and collapse. It led to the formation of an initiative to help more scholars to engage publicly about their views on collapse risk, readiness and response. This is a quick summary of what has happened and what is in the pipeline.

The second public Scholars’ Warning letter appeared in the Independent Newspaper at the close of COP26 and was written about in a number of articles. It also appeared in French newspapers. Over 200 scholars responded within the 24 hours to sign and help the sense-making of journalists and others as the summit closed. If you agree with the sentiment of this latest letter, please share this video of some of the signatories reading it.

By registering their support for a more radical agenda on our climate predicament, including the need to discuss collapse risk, readiness and response, now journalists can find these scholars and bring these ideas to wider attention. One example is an ‘Inside Climate News’ article that interviewed a number of signatories.

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