Statement on Climate Change

Climate change is real. Ninety-seven percent of scientists working in the field agree on this. The global scientific community also agrees that climate change is due to human actions. Anthropogenic global warming has come about as a result of massive human extraction of natural resources and a model of unsustainable development, powered by the fossil-fuel economy. This human built economy directly threatens human societies, non-human species, and ecosystems.  People facing racial, neo-colonial and economic exploitation suffer the brunt of the damage, as do the multitude of species that have become extinct or nearly so. 

  Alarmingly, our current government has not only disinvested from scientific research on climate change, but has tried actively to suppress this research and deny its results.  Some of our academic institutions also have begun to remove funding from premier climate change research institutes. University of Alaska is the latest example. The Union of Concerned Scientists chart what they call the Disinformation Playbook that certain large companies in the fossil fuel industry use to discredit the well-established science regarding the role of fossil fuels in damaging our planet. 

As a group dedicated to academic freedom, we join scientists in challenging efforts to suppress and deny scientific research on anthropogenic climate change.  We support and defend the academic freedom of scientists who do climate change research.