News
A selection of the latest content on the SGR site.
Resources
Bill McGuire, Professor Emeritus, University College London, argues that mainstream climate science reports downplay serious threats such as sea-level rise, extreme heat, and increased seismic activity.
6 July 2020
The aviation sector has been hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis. But its huge environmental impacts mean we should take the opportunity to carry out major reforms, argues Prof John Whitelegg, Liverpool John Moores University, in the second of two blogs on transport issues.
29 June 2020
Prof Rebecca Willis, Lancaster University, writes about overcoming social denial of the climate emergency, drawing on her new book Too Hot to Handle? The democratic challenge of climate change
22 June 2020
SGR’s Andrew Simms interviews the leading voice on climate science, Prof Kevin Anderson of the Universities of Manchester and Uppsala, about the responsibilities of scientists in the climate emergency
9 June 2020
The carbon footprint of British military spending is 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, a new SGR report has estimated - much higher than the Ministry of Defence admits.
19 May 2020
Prof John Whitelegg, Liverpool John Moores University, looks at how the UK can transition to a sustainable transport system by building on some of the changes pursued during the Covid-19 ‘lockdown’. In the first of two blogs, he focuses on surface travel.
12 June 2020
Andrew Simms and Dr Philip Webber, SGR, argue that the failure to follow principles of responsible science during the Covid-19 crisis compromises policy-making and threatens to undermine public trust.
6 May 2020
Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, discusses the sudden interest by leading UK arms companies in manufacturing health equipment during the Covid-19 crisis - and the lessons for broader arms conversion.
29 April 2020
Dr Phil Webber, SGR, looks at some emerging implications from the Covid-19 crisis for policies related to health, social justice, science, economics, environment protection and security.
28 April 2020
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are profoundly affecting our world. Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, takes an initial look at some of the lessons we should be learning.
25 March 2020
Prof Anna Stavrianakis, University of Sussex, explains how UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia have helped fuel the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and examines efforts to stop these exports.
6 February 2020
As NATO marks its 70th anniversary, Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, highlights the serious risks from the race for new weapons technologies.
3 December 2019
Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh, Cardiff University, argues that to encourage the radical behaviour change needed to tackle the climate crisis, we need a range of well-timed interventions. She also notes that climate scientists need to 'walk the talk' too.
29 November 2019
Prof Kevin Anderson, Manchester University, argues that to meet the Paris climate targets we need to put equity at the heart of plans to rapidly reduce carbon emissions.
26 November 2019
Prof Bill McGuire, University College London, argues that mainstream climate science reports downplay the scale of the threats, especially from sea-level rise, extreme heat, shutdown of the Gulf Stream, and increased seismic activity.
19 November 2019
A new poll of scientists reveals a gap between awareness of international climate goals and lifestyles, writes Andrew Simms, SGR, but there are signs of radical shifts.
16 November 2019
Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, looks at how the fossil fuel and arms industries finance professional engineering and science organisations - and the many issues this raises - in this summary of the new report, Irresponsible Science?
6 October 2019
It can seem odd that a refusal to act is a good way to motivate action, writes Andrew Simms, SGR. But striking has been a tool of change for most of recorded history and for good reasons.
17 September 2019
Barnaby Pace explores how international examples of defence diversification programmes show what success could look like in the UK – answering employment concerns and if Britain's nuclear weapons should be cancelled or curtailed.
10 September 2019
Dr Philip Webber, Scientists for Global Responsibility, considers the recent demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and recalls the dangerous decade before it was originally agreed.
29 August 2019
As the world marks the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, argues that human space-flight is highly polluting, very expensive and has contributed to international arms races.
20 July 2019
Dr Jan Maskell, SGR, examines the potential of behaviour change to help to reduce plastic waste.
2 July 2019
Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, summarises the latest data on the large but neglected carbon emissions of military activities, and argues that they need to be rapidly reduced.
29 June 2019
Dr Peter Burt of Drone Wars UK says that, in spite of contrary assurances, the UK is developing the components of autonomous weaponry.
12 June 2019
Dr Philip Webber, SGR, summarises the extremely serious dangers of the continued deployment of nuclear weapons around the world, in this article first published on the Metro website.
7 June 2019
The nuclear armed nations have inadvertently created a global Doomsday machine, built with 15,000 nuclear weapons. Most (93%) have been built by Russia and in the US, 3,100 of them are ready to fire within hours.
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/18/we-will-all-end-up-killing-each-other-an…
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/
In advance of a European Parliament vote on the new European Defence Fund - which would allow 13 billion euros to be spent on military research and technology - 1000 researchers have signed a statement opposing the fund.
17 April 2019
Just when it looked like UK coal might be phased out, a company in Cumbria is trying to give it a long-term future – undermining urgent efforts to tackle climate disruption. Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, argues for a halt to the proposed project.
17 March 2019
Publications
Responsible Science is SGR's new journal in which we explore some of the biggest ethical challenges facing science and technology today.
It comes with membership of SGR and keeps you up-to-date with what we’re doing.
March 2020
This briefing examines the importance of behaviour change across society to help tackle the climate crisis, and the potential of scientists and engineers to act as role models for such change.
Andrew Simms with Stuart Parkinson
November 2019
This report reveals how fossil fuel and arms corporations are financing professional engineering and science organisations and explores the range of problematic issues that result.
Stuart Parkinson and Philip Wood
October 2019
Events
Education activities designed to inspire young people to use science and technology to help support peace, social justice and environmental sustainability.
2020 week of activities: 7th to 15th March.
Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, summarised the latest data on the large but neglected carbon emissions of military activities. He argued that to reduce these emissions we need to pursue alternatives to militarism.