When dissent is not enough

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

If you want to know what a society values, look at what they spend their money on. As we write this week’s update, the US Senate passed a monstrosity of a budget that strips healthcare and food assistance from the most vulnerable people in our society, cuts science funding and kills our ability to solve our most pressing challenges, gives rich people a huge tax break, and funds gestapo and literal concentration camps on US soil and abroad. 

The capacity of the legal system to slow or stop authoritarianism in the US is increasingly unlikely. Last week, the Supreme Court allowed 28 states to deny birthright citizenship, a decision that is in direct contradiction to the US Constitution. On top of that, the Court just gave parents the right to object to their children’s reading of LGBTQ+-inclusive literature in public schools and sided with the State of South Carolina, paving the way for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. After three years, the full ramifications of the Dobbs decision that overturned federally protected access to abortion are still unfolding. To date, 13 states have fully banned abortion and another 7 limit access to abortion to pregnancy lengths of 6 -18 weeks. In Georgia, the 6 week ban on abortions led to a woman being kept alive to act as a human incubator for her 9 week old fetus.  

As Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent in the birthright citizenship case, “With the stroke of a pen, the President has made a ‘solemn mockery’ of our Constitution. Rather than stand firm, the Court gives way. Because such complicity should know no place in our system of law, I dissent.”

The most recent slew of Supreme Court decisions add fuel to the fire that is burning our democracy to the ground. And at the same time, the Senate just voted to strip Medicare from millions of people, take away food assistance programs, including to children, tax clean energy and increase energy costs for most Americans, all while pouring money into ICE and increasing the US debt by trillions. 

Its hard to overstate the importance of this moment in US politics. Its natural to feel overwhelmed and helpless and there are no easy answers. Many of us came here to fight for science funding. But the fight was always bigger than that. For us, it was always about systems change and collective liberation.  

Its not too late. Join us.

take action

  • Support EPA Staff. Read their declaration that addresses the new Administrator Lee Zeldin with their 5 concerns and invites him to “change course by re-committing to his oath to protect the health of the American people and our environment” 

  • Protect students and colleagues at your institution from ICE - Science For Everyone blog has some ideas for how.

  • Stand Together for Higher Ed - join faculty and staff across US institutions

  • Join others in speaking out at Home of the Brave

  • Use this Network Tracker to track ICE in your area

weekly wonder

check it out

  • The destruction of USAID is going to cost millions of lives, literally. 

  • The US Global Change Research website and the last 5 National Climate Assessment reports have been taken down

  • NIH no longer has access to Springer Nature publications

  • Hold strong Harvard, do not give in to extortion. 

  • Meta wants your photos and is being sketchy about what they will be used for.

  • Documented environmental destruction and public health crisis in Gaza

perennial reads

all ears

watch this

…by the way

Loving Kate Marvel’s new book! Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About our Changing Planet. Her words are bold, inspiring, wise, and personal -- as one of the book jacket blurbs states the book is “immediately timely. Over and over again I was, and remain, struck and challenged by the fierce, wise beauty in these pages”

Our mission is to serve society by making science open, inclusive, and accessible, and to transform society by fighting racism, patriarchy, and oppressive societal norms