Issues

We currently focus on four main issues: disarmament and security, climate change and energy, questions of who controls science and technology and issues surrounding new and emerging technologies. You will also see that we work on some other issues too. You can explore these with the menu on the left of this page and with the search function. Material in this section includes all SGR's main outputs since 2005, with a selection of the more important material from before then.

Flooding (Hermann Traub via Pixabay)

Climate change: an introduction to SGR's work

An introduction to SGR's concerns and activities on climate change.

Latest update: 28 August 2020

Trident submarine

The hidden military implications of ‘building back’ with civil nuclear

Presentation by Dr Phil Johnstone, Sussex University, at the SGR conference, Transition Now

7 November 2020

Plane (Holger Detjea via Pixabay)

What is the potential for rapid transition of the aviation industry after Covid-19?

Presentation by Dr Lucy Gilliam, Transport and Environment, at SGR conference, Transition Now

7 November 2020

Land Rover Defender

Overconsumption, the climate emergency and the scientific community

Presentation by Prof Julia Steinberger, University of Lausanne, at SGR conference, Transition Now

4 November 2020

Nuclear explosion

Scientists welcome key milestone for nuclear weapons ban treaty

Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) welcomes the 50th ratification of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – reached late yesterday – which means the treaty will now enter in force on 22 January 2021.

Media release, 25 October 2020

RAF Predator drone

New weapons dangers: Drone swarms, killer robots, nuclear and space

Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, summarises the serious and growing threat from arms races in emerging military technologies.

3 October 2020

coal

Cumbrian coal mine: SGR objection

SGR's objection to the revised proposal for a huge new deep coal mine in West Cumbria.

2 October 2020

Emily Health at climate protest

Is your pension fund wrecking the planet?

Dr Emily Heath, Ethics4USS, appeals to academics and others to support the campaigns to divest our pension funds from fossil fuels and other unethical industries.

23 September 2020

 

Farhana Yamin at SGR conference 2019

Why I swapped UN negotiations for direct action

Farhana Yamin is an international climate change lawyer who swapped negotiating rooms for street protest. Frustrated by the failure of official action to match the scale and speed of what was needed, she decided to change her own behaviour and use non-violent direct action to campaign for system change. Here she explains why she changed tactics.

1 September 2020

Ecotricity anaerobic digestors (Ecotricity)

Bio-methane: a sustainable future for gas?

With a UK moratorium on fracking, attention is at last turning to alternative sources of methane. Wiebina Heesterman outlines the science and technology of anaerobic digestion, while Stuart Parkinson gives a brief overview of the potential of bio-methane to meet UK demand for gas.

27 August 2020