Speaking Out of Place Tim Hewlett, co-founder of Scientist Rebellion on the Need for Climate Activism
Today on Speaking Out of Place we talk with Dr. Tim Hewlett, co-founder of the international protest organization Scientist Rebellion. With more than a thousand members in more than 25 countries, Scientist Rebellion stages non-violent protests, organizes events and talks, and lobbies other scientists and national leaders to draw attention to the need for immediate and meaningful action with regard to the climate crisis.
In today’s show Tim talks about the genesis of Scientist Rebellion, its tactics and strategies, and the blowback the organization is facing from governments seemingly more concerned about protest than the crisis itself.
Tim Hewlett obtained his PhD in astrophysics in 2018 from the University of St Andrews, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, researching cosmological relations between galaxies and supermassive black holes. In 2020 he returned to the UK and co-founded Scientist Rebellion, an international climate activist collective which focuses on organising academics in civil disobedience, arguing that if those who study the crisis do not act like they are in a struggle for survival the wider public cannot be expected to do so.