Responsible Science

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.

Climate change: an introduction to SGR's work

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

Latest update: 28 August 2020

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

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

Nuclear weapons: a beginner’s guide to the threats

As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks, Dr Philip Webber, SGR, outlines the key scientific and technological information on the current threat from nuclear weapons.

Latest update: 4 August 2020

Global Heating and Climate Breakdown

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

How the aviation sector should be reformed following the Covid-19 crisis

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

If you’re thinking about climate, talk about it too: combatting societal denial

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

Envisioning a post-Covid-19 transport landscape: surface travel

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

Prof Kevin Anderson speaking at the SGR conference

Turning delusion into climate action - Prof Kevin Anderson, an interview

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

Issues