The nature of resistance

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

It's been a week of shocking violence and at the same time, inspiration and bravery, as more than 5 million people across the US got into the streets on June 14th and denounced the current US administration’s authoritarianism, cruelty, and frankly, stupidity.

Violence is escalating in the US and across the world, from targeted assassinations of Minnesota legislators and their family members to violence against peaceful protesters (including violence perpetrated by law enforcement groups), to escalation of war in the Middle East, Sudan, and Ukraine. It is tempting to look away, but we need to remember that turning away is a privilege and many do not have that option.  

Frank O’Hara wrote in Meditations on an Emergency “In times of crisis, we must all decide again and again whom we love.” Today, we are in a moment of crisis that is likely to get much worse, especially for the most vulnerable among us.  In just over 150 days, the US administration’s actions have already cost thousands of lives, fueled violence in the US and across the world, and will take decades to generations to recover from.

Rebecca Solnit writes in her Meditations in an Emergency newsletter: “Even if we prevail, the harm is real and repairing the profound damage to the nation and society will be the work of years if not generations, to say nothing of the repair to psyches. But I am not giving up. I'm hopeful because I believe in civil society, I believe in our power, and I believe in our idealism. I don't know what is going to happen, because we make the future in the present, but in the present I see solidarity, commitment, principle, and courage.”

In solidarity, lets get into it.

take action

pods in action

  • CA Bay Area pods and folks, check out this opportunity to get involved in a rally and teach-in. 

  • Remember to log into Orca and update your pod membership information.

weekly win

  • More than five million people turned out for 2100+ No Kings rallies across the US

  • CDC is rehiring 400+ laid off employees

  • NIH grant terminations ruled void and illegal (Judge Young’s comments are well worth reading 🎉)

check it out

  • Early to mid-career STEM folks are getting a much-needed boost 

  • Teen Vogue continues to shine in their political coverage. Check out this op-ed on who the administration is targeting with its anti-immigration actions and how to fight back

  • Scientists are speaking out, locally and enmasse (NYT paywall)

  • CDC staff demand RFK Jr resignation

perennial reads

  • Rebecca Solnit’s Meditations on an Emergency continues to be exactly the right thing for this moment, especially this post on the nature of violence and what is going on in LA

book nook

  • Hot off the presses, “Human Nature” by Dr. Kate Marvel explores human emotions as a lens to better understand climate change.

all ears

  • We are big Drilled podcast fans around here and the new season focuses on the Standing Rock protests, walking listeners from the protests to the lawsuit that slapped Greenpeace with $666 million in damages.

watch this

🙃

How to be brave

What does everyday bravery look like? How can we take strength and inspiration from ordinary people doing incredibly brave things? Think about what it takes for folks like high school teachers and librarians to push back against book bans, knowing their jobs are on the line. Think about people showing up for their neighbors and community members who are being harassed or detained by fully militarized and masked ICE agents. Think about what it takes to organize Pride events in ultra conservative communities, where LBGTQ+ visibility is so important and where LBGTQ+ folks risk so much just to be who they are. Think about staff from the National Institutes of Health and Health and Human Services who recently posted a letter to their leadership demanding academic freedom and scientific excellence, as they and their colleagues lose their jobs.  

Scientists - its time to be brave! We must stand firm in our commitment to rigor, to push back against further politicization of our work, to call out pseudoscience, and to ensure science is truly serving the public good. 

take action

weekly win

The US courts continue to hold our shambles of a democracy together

  • A judge blocked the administration’s anti-DEI and anti-trans EOs

  • A judge issued a preliminary injunction that will restrict how the Department of Government Efficiency can access Office of Personnel Management databases

weekly wonder

  • Bedbugs have been our passengers for centuries

check it out

  • Funding to research vaccines, chronic diseases, and global health are disappearing (NYTimes, pay wall).

Perennial reads

book nook

all ears

we got the beat

watch this!

We recently discovered Leah Litman and her inspiring “incandescent rage” on an episode of The Daily Show. Litman, a constitutional law professor at the University of Michigan, she also co-hosts the Supreme Court focused podcast “Strict Scrutiny” - new episodes drop Mondays.

…by the way

A little late, but KlimaSeniorinnen (Swiss women aged over 65) won a landmark climate change case in April 2024 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

🙃 TSA developing haptics to feel bodies in VR - no thanks

Two things can be true

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash

Authoritarianism is rapidly spreading in the US and globally. As scientists who are deeply concerned about the onslaught of attacks on science, we must learn how to navigate a world where multiple things can be true. The US administration is expanding cuts to science funding, while masked ICE agents are grabbing people off the streets, while LGBTQ+ communities are finding ways to celebrate Pride month, despite increasing hate and violence targeting their communities. Violence happening in the US is being justified by violence happening in Gaza, an ever increasing circle of pain and suffering that will be used to expand xenophobia as policy. 

While retreating into research amidst the general chaos is very appealing (especially for folks who still have their research positions), we have to find ways to continue to feel the devastation and not turn away from what is happening. And we have to continue to care for ourselves and our communities. It is no easy task to care, to keep our hearts open in the face of cruelty and chaos.  But as Liz Neeley recently posted, “If the only way out is through, the only way through is together.”

So lets get into it, together.

take action

pods in action

California 👀: The California Biodiversity Project seeks citizen scientists to collect data on your next adventure. Better yet, make it a pod activity that you can get involved in with your local crew! There are three field days currently planned that folks can join too: 

  • Modoc National Wildlife Refuge Friday, June 13, 2025 | 12-5pm

    Alturas, CA 96101

    RSVP

  • Sumner Peck Ranch Saturday, June 28, 2025 | 8-11:30am
    14439 N Friant Road, Friant, CA 93626
    RSVP

  • Sierra Valley Preserve & Nature Center
    Saturday, July 12, 2025 | 9:30am-1:30pm
    495 Beckwourth Calpine Rd, Beckwourth, CA 96129
    RSVP

weekly wins

  • The Trump administration is on a massive legal losing streak - 96% loss rate in federal courts in the month of May alone! 

  • Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs are illegal.

  • Musk is out and that is a win of sorts. 

  • Happy pride month! As attacks on LGBTQ+ communities are ramping up across America, small towns are unexpected beacons of hope.

weekly wonder

Everybody poops, but penguins release ammonia and dimethylamine in their poop, nucleating cloud condensation. Yup, penguin poop controls local weather. 

check it out

perennial reads

Book nook

all ears

watch this

  • The finale of the “Handmaid’s Tale” issues a stark warning (spoilers alert!)

…by the way

  • Suing oil and gas companies for climate change impacts is cool. The daughter of a woman who died during the Pacific Northwest “Heat Dome” in 2021 sued seven oil and companies for wrongful death in Washington state court.

  • And kids in Montana won their landmark climate lawsuit in 2023

Perseverance has its limits

Photo by Carlota Vidal on Unsplash

“To fall in love with the world isn’t to ignore or overlook suffering, both human and otherwise. For me anyway, to fall in love with the world is to look up at the night sky and feel your mind swim before the beauty and the distance of the stars. It is to hold your children while they cry, to watch as the sycamore trees leaf out in June. When my breastbone starts to hurt, and my throat tightens, and tears well in my eyes, I want to look away from the feeling. I want to deflect with irony or anything else that will keep me from feeling directly. We all know how loving ends. But I want to fall in love with the world anyway, to let it crack me open. I want to feel what there is to feel while I am here” - John Greene, from “The Anthropocene Reviewed.”

At times, the world feels unlovable. The people who are taking a wrecking ball to our institutions do not love the world, they only love themselves. But to love, even in the face of a purposely cruel and violent world, is revolutionary and an act of resistance. 

As bell hooks wrote in All About Love: New Visions, “there can be no love without justice.” This week, we seek love and justice, even as the world burns.

Lets get into it.

take action

weekly win

weekly wonder

check it out

perennial reads

  • Meeting the Moment - Liz Neeley’s weekly breakdown of what's happening in the science and higher ed worlds (week 16 is a scorcher)

  • Waging Nonviolence - this week, learn how to remain engaged without being overwhelmed

  • Wonder matters - check out Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s column in New Scientist

book nook

all ears

we got the beat

  • Last Thursday, the Muppets celebrated their 70th anniversary. Enjoy Kermit singing his song, The Rainbow Connection

…by the way

🙃 meet the unsung heroes of motherhood

We are not in Kansas anymore

Photo by Pacto Visual on Unsplash

While Canada and the US rejected their far right governments during recent elections, the US continues its rapid slide into authoritarianism. Last week brought more mayhem and Resistance Kitty wrote it best:

“We are not in Kansas anymore, folks - we’re in an authoritarian fever dream with bad spray tans and worse policies. But guess what? Resistance isn’t a one-day protest. Its a daily sabotage of the unjust.

Be petty. Be loud. Be ungovernable”

Take Action

weekly wins

  • No to capitulation

    • Maine funds unfrozen (Maine refused to ban transgender athletes from competing in school sports)

    • Attacking law firms is unconstitutional

  • No to authoritarianism

    • Canada Liberal Party sweep and presidential win

    • Australian Labor Party huge win

  • No to deporting international students

    • Reversal of student visa terminations (thanks to the  dozens of restraining orders issued by judges)

  • No to retaliation against students and academics

    • Release of Mohsen Mahdawi ordered by federal judge

    • Rümeysa Öztürk's case ordered to be moved to Vermont, but transfer is paused

    • Mahmoud Khalil's case can move forward in federal court

    • ACLU affiliates won temporary restraining orders in several states and forced the administration to restore revoked visas

  • Yes to solidarity

    • AGU and AMS pick up the momentum on the cancelled National Climate Assessment

    • Universities stand together to oppose the current administration

weekly wonder

check it out

perennial reads

book nook

all ears

  • Pharmaceuticals are getting in our waterways and changing fish behavior (NPR Shortwave podcast)

  • On raising girls while covering the White House (Longest Shortest Time podcast)

We got the beat

watch this

…by the way

🙃 Will you accept 30 hours of transfer credit from the Dark Side?

Science is labor

Photo by Mulyadi on Unsplash

“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world” - Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the National Farmworkers Union.

Science has a labor history and is interwoven into both labor and anti-labor movements. Organizing within science has some unique challenges, and scientists often do not see themselves as workers. But the proliferation of low-paying jobs, the reliance on graduate students and postdocs as temporary cheap labor, the expanding “soft money” worker class without job security, and institutional barriers to labor organizing within science have all deepened exploitation of researchers.  Recent movements for unionization are overcoming institutional and cultural barriers and as attacks on science and scientists are expanding in the US, more scientists are looking to the labor movements for guidance. 

The rapid decline into authoritarianism in the US and abroad is an existential threat to science and society. This is the moment for scientists to join together with worker movements. We can’t sit on the sidelines and hope we have research funding. The fight of authoritarianism is our fight too. 

Lets roll up our leaves and get into it.

take action

  • Join a rally on May Day (May 1st) in your town. 

  • “we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses” - sign on to this letter calling for academic institutions to stand together - 270 institutions have signed (more expected)

  • Join the Science Homecoming op-ed writing efforts – as a start, volunteer with the McClintock Letters project to help edit 500 letters in support of science to local papers (email partnerships@500womenscientists.org)

weekly win

  • Trump administration tried to cancel the National Nature Assessment, scientists reinvent it as United By Nature: A Knowledge Assessment of Nature and Nature’s Benefits in the U.S. (NYT op-ed paywalled)

  • Divya Tyagi, a Penn State engineering grad student, revised a version of a 100-year-old equation to improve the accuracy of wind turbine efficiency modeling

check it out

  • This year’s Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize winners

  • Its time to be brave, a call to action from Cornell University AAUP president Risa Lieberwitz

  • Learning from Chicago’s organizing against immigration raids

perennial reads

  • Terry McGlynn’s latest “Science for Everyone” blog post and consider this: If your institution was relying on your DEI office to make progress, were you really making any progress?

  • Andy Revkin wrote about his visit to the Vatican in 2014, reflecting on a mix of science, spirit, will and love

  • Leveling up - from chilling to freezing effects on science.

    • In 2008, the Bush administration politically attacked NIH funding but NIH defended grants and no funding was lost.

    • In 2025, NIH is disqualifying universities from receiving grants if they have DEI programs and/or divestment from Israel. We are off the cliff. 

  • Republicans have terminated ~800 NIH & 1000 NSF grants so far. Those grants represent countless people, their ideas, and discoveries that will be delayed or die on the vine.

all ears

watch this

…by the way

  • It was never about illegal immigrants - the US administration deported a 2-yr old citizen (and her sister and mother). The cruelty is boundless. 

🙃

Oppression is the mask of fear

Photo by Cade Roberts on Unsplash

There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this: Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrections are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this: The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this: Try.

—Karis Nemik, Andor, Season 1 Episode 12

The US administration is rapidly attacking fundamental rights, including due process and free speech. The recent NSF efforts to rescind funding from projects that study misinformation, claiming "concerns for free speech," don’t square with the administration’s actions like kidnapping Rümeysa Öztürk off the streets and putting her in detention for writing an op-ed. The goals are tyranny, preemptive obedience, and control. And as Karis Nemik notes in his manifesto in Andor (season 1), the need for control is desperate. But we must also remember that it’s tenuous and the resistance will always persevere.

We continue to bare witness as things continue to unravel, so lets get into it.

Take action

  • Check the new NSF grant cancellation tracker (DOGE is in full force across the agency) to see if your work is being defunded and let your elected representatives know!

    • If your NSF grant has been terminated, please submit that information here

  • Check out and share these federal worker legal support resources

  • More actions on the Action Lab website

weekly wonder

There are ~300,000 moose in Sweden and they are on the move. Check out this livestream of their migration.

Check it out

Perennial reads

  • “What it means to tell the truth about America” by Clint Smith in The Atlantic, important read as the administration EOs target museums and libraries to white-wash and purge history.

  • The rise of unreason, coupled with our growing scientific knowledge and sophistication.

  • A catalog of cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, lest we forget the litany of horrors the US administration is spreading across the US and world.

weekly win

  • Institutions of higher education and faculty within are uniting to defend academic freedom.

All ears

  • Check out the bio/acc podcast by Harvard sophomore Shriya Prakash Bhat, featuring deeply researched interviews on fascinating topics in biotech and human health.

…by the way

We loved hearing the news of the wandering cat who joined the White House Press Corps (and the photos of journalists holding her released by the AP). Maybe if we all had more animals to snuggle things would be better?

🙃

NIH has been instructed to hold off issuing grants to Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, and Northwestern…. but can’t tell them?!?!

For Whom, By What Means, Toward What Ends?

Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash

We are kicking things off with a blurb from the folks behind Science for the People and their latest blog about defending science. “We recognize that science is inherently political. Science is defined as a set of human practices relating to knowledge that arises from, is shaped by, and helps reproduce the social systems in which it is embedded. Thus, science is not an objective good or neutral tool; it interpenetrates with all other social phenomena such as class, race, sex, gender, geography, and culture. Science throughout history is practiced unequally, benefits few, excludes many, and is inextricable from its human consequences. To defend “science,” we must first ask: Science for whom? By what means? Toward what ends?” 

This week, we continue to scream into the void. Lets get to it.

Take Action

  • The next big day of action is April 19th - follow 50501 on Bluesky and find an event near you.

  • For folks in the US, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep calling your elected representatives. 5 Calls continues to be a great resource or you can find the contacts for your representatives here.

Weekly Wins

  • Huge crowds as Bernie and AOC get back on the road for their “Fight the Oligarchy” tour.

  • Attorney General Bonta filed a brief challenging the administration’s revocation of student visas.

  • 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 major universities starting to push back against all kinds of administrative over-reach (Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, among others) even as more universities are targeted by the administration.

Weekly Wonder

Meet the Southwest peach and a Navajo researcher working to bring it back!

check it out

  • As of April 14, 1,000+ international students and recent graduates have had their legal status changed by the U.S. State Department. See where international student visas have been revoked. 

  • The National Institutes of Health is the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research. See which grant programs and NIH institutes have been cut by the administration. 

  • The NASA and the CDC have been gutted.

perennial reads

all ears

This Podcast Will Kill You does an amazing job bringing evidence-based health science to a broad set of ears – exactly what the world needs when health disinformation is at a high point. We were blown away learning about Scarlet Fever, and hat tip for this week’s episode on the Childhood Vaccine Schedule.

watch this!

The Librarians is a full length documentary about book bans sweeping the US and the librarians and educators (almost all women) fighting them.

🙃

Is it just us or is this fascism?

Good trouble

Photo by Barbara Burgess on Unsplash

Last week, US Senator Cory Booker held the Senate floor for 25 hours and 5 minutes, kicking off his marathon filibuster by saying that he has “been hearing from people from all over my state and indeed all over the nation calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency—the crisis—of the moment. And so we all have a responsibility, I believe to do something different to cause, as John Lewis said, good trouble, and that includes me.” The urgency of the moment cannot be overstated. Thousands of people have been laid off from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The impacts of losing entire programs and core functionality of remaining programs will be felt for years to come and the most vulnerable members of our society will pay the price. 

And that was just last week… before the US put tariffs on 150 countries, including 2 islands inhabited largely by penguins.

Lets talk penguins and more in this week’s wrap up. 

Take Action

  • Share this safety and planning information with non-US citizens 

  • Next day of collective action is April 19th, find an event here or organize one for your area.

  • If you are in the US, keep calling your representatives! 5 Calls continues to be a great resource or you can find the contacts for your representatives here.

Weekly Wins

  • 5.2 million people joined #HandsOff rallies across 1,200 locations across the US. 

  • Susan Crawford won her election in Wisconsin, helping maintain liberal majority on the state’s Supreme Court and delivering a decisive rebuttal to Elon Musk’s attempt to buy the election

  • Tesla sales continue to plummet #teslatakedown

Weekly Wonder

  • Molecular hydrogen takes a spin

Check It Out

  • Act locally and interconnectedly - Rutgers University’s faculty senate passed a mutual defense resolution, endorsed by associated unions, with an aim of acting collectively with other campuses.

  • Some advice for folks who have lost their jobs, from the wonderful Laura Helmuth

  • If your grant has been terminated, this resource may provide some useful next steps

Perennial Reads

  • Curious about the legal ramifications of EOs and other administrative actions? Check out Joyce Vance’s blog posts, starting with this one on the legality of the use of the Insurrection Act.

  • Meditations on an Emergency by Rebecca Solnit - bookmark it and read weekly!

  • Waging Non Violence by Daniel Hunter - concrete things we all must do to keep ourselves grounded and effective

  • Making Sense of it All by Liz Neeley - a weekly recap of what’s going on, with an emphasis on science and scicomm.

Book Nook

Watch This

  • Backsliding and the Resistance in the United States - professors Erica Chenoweth and Steven Levitsky discuss what can be learned from mobilization and opposition to autocracy in the United States based on historical examples, and offer their assessments of where the U.S. stands today.

… by the way

We had a little snafu with our email last week, so if you missed last week’s wrap up, you can still read it (it was a good one!).

Weekly Wrap Up

Photo by Liam Truong on Unsplash

“Part of how they make you obey is by making obedience seem peaceful, while resistance is violence. But really, either choice is about violence, one way or another.” ― Charlie Jane Anders, The City in the Middle of the Night

Its been a rough week, folks.

Any semblance of due process is quickly deteriorating in the US, where ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents in plain clothes are abducting people off the streets, often specifically targeting people with legal immigration status but who are critical of the current administration. The climate of fear is rapidly spreading across academic institutions and anticipatory obedience is commonplace. The University of Michigan is ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across campus, just the latest in a long list of universities capitulating to the administration’s unlawful demands to end DEI in and outside of the federal government. NYU cancelled a presentation by a Canadian doctor for fear of being targeted by the US president and Johns Hopkins University told their faculty not to intervene in potential ICE detainments on campus. Hundreds of international students from India who allegedly participated in pro-Palestine actions or shared or “liked” social media posts that are deemed anti-national got a letter from the administration telling them they had 24 hours to self-deport or they would be detained. The United States Disappeared Tracker is attempting to track people who are being detained without due process.

If you don’t think what is happening to people like Rumeysa Ozturk can’t happen to you, consider the fact that she was detained not because she did not have a legal reason for being in the US but because she expressed an opinion, a right that is fundamentally protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Take Action

Weekly Wonder

You can nominate your pick for The Guardian’s invertebrate of the year. We are loving the clever cuttlefish 💜

Check It out

More than 10,000 federal employees were laid off last week from US Health and Human Services. Its easy to become numb as the frequency and scale of these kinds of announcements, but these are real people who were fulfilling an important mission, including supporting addiction services and community health centers across the US, monitoring infectious diseases and food safety, and overseeing health insurance programs to make sure they are not scamming subscribers. This will not make us more healthy and this will not make us more safe.

Perennial Reads

book nook

  • The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (sci-fi, reluctant revolutionaries, and there are crocodiles, but hear us out, its a good book for our current times)

All Ears

Watch this

Rumeysa Ozturk, an international PhD student at Tufts University, was abducted by federal agents on March 25. She was likely targeted because she co-authored an op-ed critical of the university and has voiced support for Palestine. And we gotta call out the ICE agent cowardice, pulling up masks to hide their faces when they abducted Rumeysa. If you can’t publicly stand by your actions, this is a critical moment to stand against them.

…by the way

March 25th was Tolkien reading day and we can certainly get behind the quest for vanquishing Sauron.

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

🙃 DOGE is making some big claims about improving government efficiencies but their claims don’t add up. Check for yourself - math may not be this crew’s strength.

Weekly Wrap Up

“Who has the right to have rights?” wrote Mahmoud Khalil in his letter from a Louisiana ICE detention center last week. That question has been top of mind as more information and footage is shared from ICE detention centers in the US and abroad. And just like that, the U.S. has concentration camps again.

Its been a hell of a week, lets get into it.

Take Action

Here are some recent entries to Action Lab, our database that compiles action items that YOU can take part in.

  • Hands Off April 5 National Day of Action 

  • Kill the Cuts National Day of Action will be April 8, 2025

  • Survey seeking information regarding students' perceptions of funding and workforce cuts, from SciLight and The Science Classroom.

  • We are starting a list of women & gender minority STEM folks on Bluesky - DM or message us to be added 💜

Weekly Win

  • 34,000 people came out to see Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rally in Denver last week, and huge crowds were in attendance in Greeley CO, Tucson Arizona, and other stops on their “Fight the Oligarchy” tour. We are not alone!

Check It Out

  • The 500WS Philly Pod put together a quick guide for how to contact your local reps and schedule meetings. 

  • And the same Philly Pod is taking it to their representative Fetterman - WTF Fetterman! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Perennial Reads

Book Nook

All Ears

… by the way

As #SignalGate continues to get attention, this is a good time to learn about encrypted messaging apps security.

Weekly Wrap Up

We are back with a weekly wrap-up, bringing you just some of the important content from the week. We can’t cover everything, we are only human. 

This past week was a doozy.  As Rebecca Solnit put it, “People are rising up. I feel a groundswell. There is a lot going on. There's a whole lot going on. And that's just what I can see, and I know that a whole lot of us are organizing, resisting, and not cooperating in a whole lot of ways we can't see yet. I'm horrified by what the Trumpists are doing and by the moral ugliness of it; but I'm moved and exhilarated by what a whole lot of the rest of us are doing, and the moral beauty of it. The horror and the wonder can coexist, just as the worst and best of us do.”

So lets get to it.

Take Action

Check out our Action Lab for inspiration and to take action, based on your interest and capacity. This week, we encourage you to:

  • Share your story about the benefits of federal science

  • Share the impacts you’ve seen or experienced from federal funding cuts or illegal firings at federal agencies with the Union of Concerned Scientists

Weekly Win

  • A second judge ordered US agencies to reinstate fired employees, including at DOE, NSF, National Park Service, and USDA. For now, that means folks are getting back to keeping our critical infrastructure running and people safe.

  • Student newspapers are crushing it. Check out this opinion piece from The Harvard Crimson “First They Came for Columbia”

Perennial Reads

Book Nook

watch this

… by the way

  • We are starting a list of women & gender minority STEM folks on Bluesky - DM or message us to be added 💜

  • Happy belated International Women’s Day 🤦🏻‍♀️ with a word from McSweeney’s

Dear scientists: we stand with you and for you

We are witnessing attacks on science and evidence-based policymaking in the U.S. at a scale we have not experienced in our lifetimes. We, former and current members of the 500 Women Scientists leadership team, are gathering in support of our community across the world in this critical moment.

We, 500 Women Scientists, know it is critical to bear witness to what is happening, bring community together, and build collective power to fight back. We are here to stand up to the rapid normalization of fascist rhetoric and actions, to stand against cuts to science and education more broadly, and to leverage our growing community to find small and large ways to fight back. Working together, we can still win.

Who pays the price for climate change? Examples of environmental injustice continue to grow.

This summer, the people living in Pakistan have faced an unrelenting series of extreme weather events, including heatwaves, forest fires, multiple glacial lake outbursts, and now, flash floods, coupled with a prolonged monsoon season. 

This is a climate catastrophe.

The widespread flooding in Pakistan has resulted in over 1,000 deaths since mid-June, impacting over 30 million, with the destruction of homes, crops, roads, bridges and more critical infrastructure across all four provinces in Pakistan. Right now, first responders, the military and volunteers are working to evacuate stranded Pakistanis, deliver food to remote regions, and mitigate the spread of waterborne diseases. Agencies estimate that about 6.5 million Pakistanis need shelter, food, potable water and medicine. 

This is environmental injustice.

As BBC noted, “Pakistan produces less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions but ranks consistently in the top 10 countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.” Early estimates state that these floods alone have cost Pakistan USD 10 billion. This  is not an isolated incident. People living in South Asia are more likely to die from climate crisis impacts.

This is a foreshadowing of the extreme weather that is happening, and is to come, as a result of climate change. 

Millions of people across India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have also been affected by raging floods and landslides. Rainfall, flooding and mudslides in western China are estimated to have left about 1,000 dead. In Ghana, fishers and fishmongers are struggling to catch fish, leaving fishing communities, especially women, very vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. Europe is grappling with record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires across the Mediterranean. In the US, wildfires in California and flooding in the south east threaten lives and are wreaking havoc on infrastructure. 

As António Guterres, the United Nations’ Secretary-General, aptly said last week: “Let’s stop sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change. Today, it is Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.”

Photo by Dibakar Roy on Unsplash

Today, we ask that you take action to specifically support the people of Pakistan as they struggle for survival at the frontlines of climate change, and all those around the world who are also facing climate crises.

WHAT WE CAN DO TODAY:

  • If you are able to, donate what you can to organizations who are leading relief efforts to evacuate stranded Pakistanis, deliver food and mitigate waterborne diseases:

    • Established in 1951, the Edhi Foundation is a Pakistan-based non-profit social welfare organization. The Edhi Foundation has launched a flood relief campaign to provide cooked food, dry ration packs, tarpaulin sheets, medical aid and other non-food essential items to those impacted by floods.

    • Established in 1984, Islamic Relief is a global humanitarian and development agency working in over 45 countries to assist and transform the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. They have launched an appeal for the floods in Pakistan to provide food, cash grants and buy pumps to remove water from flooded homes.

    • You can find additional relief campaigns to support here (scroll horizontally to column L for links).

  • The United Nations has issued an appeal for $160 million in emergency funding to Pakistan, led by the Government of Pakistan. Call your representatives and ask them to support this appeal, and to take action to mitigate the consequences of climate change in Pakistan, and across the world.

  • Show support and solidarity. Re-share information about how flooding has impacted Pakistan, as well as calls for donations, in your personal networks. Take the time to speak with your family and friends about how climate change is impacting Pakistan, and countries across the world.

  • Learn more about the impacts of climate change in your local area. For example, if you live in Canada, use the Climate Atlas to explore how climate change will impact your community. If you live in the UK, use this tool (created by the BBC and the Met Office) to explore what climate change will look like near you.

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