Sat, Oct 19, 2019 page14

• Scientists endorse mass civil disobedience to force climate action 促政府對抗氣候變遷 公民不服從運動獲科學家背書

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  Almost 400 scientists have endorsed a civil disobedience campaign aimed at forcing governments to take rapid action to tackle climate change, warning that failure could inflict “incalculable human suffering.”

  In a joint declaration, climate scientists, physicists, biologists, engineers and others from at least 20 countries broke with the caution traditionally associated with academia to side with peaceful protesters courting arrest from Amsterdam to Melbourne.

  While many scientists have shunned overt political debate, fearing that being perceived as activists might undermine their claims to objectivity, the 395 academics who had signed the declaration by 11am GMT on Sunday chose to defy convention.

  

  “Red Brigade” activists walk during an Extinction Rebellion demonstration, in London, UK on Monday. 上週一英國倫敦的「反抗滅絕」示威中，「紅衣旅」抗議人士向前行進。

  Photo: Reuters
  照片：路透

  Other signatories included several scientists who contributed to the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has produced a series of reports underscoring the urgency of dramatic cuts in carbon emissions.

  “We can’t allow the role of scientists to be to just write papers and publish them in obscure journals and hope somehow that somebody out there will pay attention,” Julia Steinberger, an ecological economist at the University of Leeds and a lead IPCC author, told Reuters.

  “We need to be rethinking the role of the scientist and engage with how social change happens at a massive and urgent scale,” she said. “We can’t allow science as usual.”

  

  A climate activist is pictured near the Royal Palace during the Extinction Rebellion protest in Brussels, Belgium on Oct. 12. 十月十二日在比利時布魯塞爾皇宮附近參與「反抗滅絕」抗議活動的一位民眾。

  Photo: Reuters
  照片：路透

  (Reuters)

  近四百名科學家背書了一項公民不服從運動，該運動旨在迫使各國政府迅速採取行動，以因應氣候變化，並警告說，若沒有做到，便可能造成「人類無盡的苦難」。

  在一份聯合宣言中，來自至少二十個國家的氣候科學家、物理學家、生物學家、工程師和其他人員打破了學術界傳統的謹慎態度，而與和平示威者站在同一邊，從阿姆斯特丹到墨爾本都有示威者遭逮捕。

  

  Activists from Extinction Rebellion participate in a protest in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 12. The Extinction Rebellion climate protest movement organized a “spring rebellion” civil disobedience week between Oct. 7 and Sunday, which included marches aimed at blocking traffic. 民眾十月十二日在澳洲墨爾本參與「反抗滅絕」抗議活動。「反抗滅絕」氣候抗議運動在十月七日至上週日舉行「春季起義」公民不服從活動，包括旨在阻擋交通的示威遊行。

  Photo: EPA

  儘管許多科學家迴避公開的政治辯論，因為擔心若被歸類為環保運動人士，可能會有損科學所標榜的客觀性，但在格林威治時間上週日早上十一點前完成宣言簽署的三百九十五名學者，卻選擇了違反這個慣例。

  其他簽署者還包括幾名為聯合國「政府間氣候變遷專門委員會」（IPCC）做研究的科學家，該委員會已提出一系列報告，強調大幅削減碳排放的緊迫性。

  里茲大學生態經濟學家、IPCC主要作者朱莉亞‧史坦伯格告訴路透通訊社說：「我們不能讓科學家的角色只侷限在撰寫論文、將其發表在艱澀的期刊上，然後期望外界不知怎地就會有人來關注」。

  她說：「我們需要重新思考科學家的角色，並參與大規模而緊迫的社會變革」；「我們不能讓科學還是一切照舊」。

  （台北時報林俐凱譯）
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