This is a special edition of the Scientists4Future NL newsletter for the occasion of the Dutch National Climate Week 2024. During the National Climate Week from 11 to 17 November, many activities will take place across the country. Do check out the Climate Week website for activities near you!

As Scientists4Future NL, we also have some suggestions for things you can do for National Climate Week. In fact, we have suggestions for every day of the week, so keep reading! We also offer a ✨prize✨. If you send us photos showing that you’ve done at least two of the activities listed below, we will enter you into a lottery to win one of our famous coffee mugs (pictured below)!  photo of Scientsts for Future NL branded mugs

Monday 11 November: write or email your municipality about fossil fuel advertising

The Hague has recently become the first city in the world to ban advertisements for high-carbon products and services. This is an important step, because fossil fuel advertising undermines climate policy by normalising and promoting unsustainable behaviour. And your town could be next!

  1. Check if you can find the contact details of your municipality on this website.

  2. Click on this link to generate an email template.

  3. Add your name, place of residence and the email address of your municipality. Make other edits if you want.

  4. Press send!

If the link doesn’t work for you, you can also find the template here.

Tuesday 12 November: sign the petition to Elsevier

Did you know that the well-known Dutch science publisher Elsevier provides many services to the fossil fuel industry? After 3 years of campaigning by Elsevier staff without adequate response by the company, a complaint was submitted by more than 150 organisations to the United Nations Human Rights Council about the human rights implications of facilitating exploration and expansion of new fossil fuels by Elsevier and its parent company RELX. Scientists for Future NL was one of these organisations.

Elsevier has not altered its business activities since then, so we are stepping up action by putting pressure on them to stop facilitating new oil and gas. Sign the petition here.

Wednesday 13 November: check your own and your employer’s financial service providers

Banks and insurance companies play an important role in financing both unsustainable and sustainable industries. Check how sustainable your bank, insurance company and pension fund are on eerlijkegeldwijzer.nl. Does that make you want to send them a compliment or a complaint? Does it maybe even make you want to change to another provider? Changing banks is almost certainly easier than you think, thanks to the Overstapservice. 

In 2023, Scientists for Future NL asked our universities to bank, invest and insure sustainably. Progress is slow and can be helped with more pressure from employees, so ask your employer whom they bank, invest and insure with, and ask them to change to a more sustainable provider, for example by emailing your sustainability coordinator and/or head of finance. You can find an example email that you can use here.

Thursday 14 November: Join the demonstration against the budget cuts to higher education in Utrecht

The announced budget cuts of more than one billion euro will affect sustainability education, research and the energy transition of our universities. Together with the cuts to public broadcastering and tax increases on books and newspapers, the cuts raise concern about the future of our democracy. A petition against the budget cuts has been signed more than 30,000 times. You can add your name here.

Next to that, you can team up with your colleagues and join the protest march in Utrecht on 14 November, from Moreelsepark to Domplein. The march, which takes from 13:00 to 15:00, is organised by WO in Actie and the labour unions AOb and FNV. If you are a union member and register to go, you get your train travel reimbursed. Scientists for Future NL will be there too, so you can join us in Utrecht. Meeting point from 12:30h at this location in the Moreelsepark (look for the white lab coats).  

Friday 15 November: get involved with Scientists4Future NL

We’d love to get to know you!

Join our meet-and-greet on Tuesday 19 November at noon.

You can register here. 

Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email with information about how to join the meeting.

In S4F NL we use Slack to communicate. You can email us (contact@scientists4future.nl) to join the S4F Slack network.

You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter/X, and donate to us here.

Weekend, 16-17 November: send us pictures to win a mug

[Send us pictures of you doing at least two of the National Climate Week activities listed above](mailto:contact@scientists4future.nl ?subject=Photos Climate Week&body=I do / do not give S4F permission to use these photos in its communication.) before 25 November 2024 to get a chance to win an S4F coffee mug ☕. We won't save your photos, or use them for our communication channels, unless you give us permission to do so explicitly. 

We look forward to seeing your actions!

Upcoming events

November

December

  •  10 December: national meeting (Zoom)