meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Science Weekly

Why are climate and conservation scientists taking to the streets?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.21K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last week’s IPCC report gives the world just 30 months to get greenhouse gas emissions falling. Beyond that, we’ll have missed our chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C and protecting our planet from the most serious impacts of climate change. As the window closes, some scientists feel like writing reports and publishing papers is no longer enough, and researchers around the world are leaving their desks and labs to take action on the streets. Madeleine Finlay meets scientists protesting at Shell HQ in London and speaks to the conservationist Dr Charlie Gardner about civil disobedience – and why he thinks it’s the only option left. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the Guardian.

0:10.0

Last Monday the most recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change was published.

0:20.0

Climate scientists warn that we are already perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate impacts.

0:30.0

It gave the world 30 months.

0:32.0

Yes, that's 30 months for us to get global greenhouse gases falling if we want to avoid the worst of the climate crisis.

0:43.6

That narrow window for action we always talk about, well, it's almost up.

0:50.0

And some scientists are feeling like writing reports and publishing papers just isn't enough anymore.

0:58.0

So instead they're taking to the streets.

1:04.0

We're taking it to the streets.

1:07.0

I think scientists need to be out here with our children, with our indigenous, with our old and our young.

1:17.0

Good morning. We are Scientists Rebellion.

1:20.0

We're the group of Scentsiotti the rebellion in climatic. Last week saw hundreds of scientists around the world blockading government buildings, doing

1:38.5

teach-ins and protesting, including on Wednesday in London, when I joined a group headed to the

1:45.8

headquarters of Fossil Fuel Company Shell.

1:48.8

Listen to the science!

1:50.8

Listen to the science! Academic posters. academic posters were plastered up on the windows, water balloons full of black paint were thrown,

1:59.9

and a banner stretched across the entrance, reading scientists' rebellion.

2:04.1

This kind of civil disobedience probably isn't what you'd expect a group of scientists to be doing on a Wednesday morning.

2:17.0

So why are more and more environmentalists, climate and data scientists, biologists and even

2:27.2

astrophysicists leaving their desks and laboratories behind to protest.

2:33.0

Scientists have been putting out these increasingly dire warnings about where things are heading.

2:37.0

And we're not seeing action at the scale that's needed.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Guardian, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Guardian and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.