In this newsletter:

  • Report: October's in-person national meeting
  • Report: EUR sustainability summit
  • News: Open letter to stop fossil subsidies in the EU rejected
  • Invitation: 4th quarter meeting NL Agro-Ecology network
  • Reading, watching and listening tips
  • Upcoming events
  • Local groups
  • Get involved!

Editorial

Welcome to another October newsletter! Sometimes there's simply too many things going on and we want to share our experiences of the national meeting, the Erasmus Sustainability summit, our plans for the National Climate Week and more with you! Keep reading! 

PS did you see that we brought back the section with reading/watching/listening tips to the newsletter? Go check it out and send us any tips that you want to share with other readers!

Report: October's in-person national meeting

By Marjan Smeulders

On 5 October, we gathered in Utrecht for the national meeting. We discussed how we can involve more academics and researchers in our activities, and planned the actions for the next months: during National Climate Week 11-17 November, we will have a program of actions that can be taken individually and in your institute. You will read all about it in the next newsletter!

We also discussed how to join forces with the trade unions and especially the FNV Klimaatnetwerk. Through the trade unions, sustainability measures in our institutes may be easier to accomplish! If you are not already a member of a trade union: you can join AOb or FNV with a discount in October. You can also claim back some of the contribution through your employer. newsletter1

Report: EUR sustainability summit

By Arjen Markus

On Friday 11 October, a bunch of us joined the Sustainability Summit at the Erasmus campus in Rotterdam. The event was organised by Erasmus University and the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. While the emphasis was on sustainability in an academic context, the summit was open to everyone who is concerned about climate and sustainability in general. In the morning we attended a series of presentations by experts in the field and the afternoon was reserved for workshops on different themes. Many organisations had a booth, including Scientists for Future and Scientists Rebellion (see photo below!). Of course, the challenge is to make sure that it is not a meeting of like-minded people that can only lament the situation in the world. And the talks were quite helpful in that!

The presentations were in fact rather provocative, such as the one by Kees Klomp (Windesheim University). He argued that we are experiencing a collapse in slow motion and that that actually is an opportunity.  A completely different presentation was by Michiel van den Hout of the NWO organisation KIN (Climate Research Initiative). As the director of KIN, his goal is to accelerate the research that is needed to achieve the energy transition. This requires changes in the traditional way of working.

The overall message was: we need to accept that the world is making tiny steps in the right direction and we all want it to go faster. But that is still no reason to despair. The motto, as cited by one of the presenters should be the adagium of Karl Popper: optimism is a moral obligation! newsletter2

News: Open letter to stop fossil subsidies in the EU rejected

You may remember from last newsletter that S4F signed an open letter to the politicians leading the European Union. The letter asked them to deliver on the EU's promises: 

  • To follow the plan it adapted in 2022, namely to set a timeline to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, and

  • To develop tools that can help keep EU member states accountable, such as clear definitions and monitoring schemes. 

On October 5th, the letter was offered, and not accepted, in Brussels. Read more about the assembly and letter here.

 

Invitation: 4th quarter meeting NL Agro-Ecology network

By Ignas Heitkonig

Join the 4th quarter meeting of the Agro-Ecology Network in NL! While there is understandably a lot of attention for CO2 and climate issues, the agricultural sector needs a similar focus. The Agro-Ecology Network in NL has quarterly meetings, and the 4th one of 2024 will be on 4 November in Amsterdam.

AE farmers are very interested in meeting scientists with an interest in - and knowledge about - water-soil-plant-animal-human relationships (or a section thereof) and would love to meet them in an unconstrained setting. They reach out to S4F and SR in particular. It would be fabulous if you have a scientific interest in this field (ecological, sociological, chemical, agricultural or whatever!) + would like to meet farmers who have questions but do not have access to scientists.

The central question of this day is: “How can we cultivate and nurture caring, creative and strategic collaborations across the Agro-Ecology Network as we make, share and mobilize knowledge together for system change?” 

We will explore this question together through the following program:

11:00 - 11:15 Mística – opening

11:15 - 11:30 Introduction and orientation

11:30 - 12:15 Exercise: Exclusion of farmers from knowledge and decision-making

12:15 - 13:15 Lunch break + academic agroecology research & researcher poster wall

Scientists indicate their field of expertise on a sheet of A3, low key, with sketches & key words & short sentences = no complex scientific posters please. Scientists make their contact detail(s) available for AE farmers.

13:15 - 14:15 Five principles for farmer-researcher collaboration and progressive examples from practice

14:15 - 15:15 Reflection to action: a three-step exercise

15:15 - 15:30 Plenary sharing of reflections and actions

15:30 - 15:45 Images and reflections from reflection stewards

15:45 - 16:00 Mística – closure

After 16:00    Cleaning up

Organizers:   Federation of Agroecological Farmers & the Agroecology Knowledge Collective

Date:             Monday 4th of November, 2024

Time:            11:00 - 16:00

Location:       Pluk!Boterbloem

                      Lutkemeerwer 262

                     1067 TH Amsterdam

If you are keen to join then please register here (scroll down for English). Feel free to contact Ignas Heitkonig for more details and feel free to spread this message to others in your network who are potentially interested but who are not part of S4F and/or SR.

 

Reading, watching and listening tips

From Philipp: Listen to podcast Help, mijn buur spuit pesticiden from Red de Lente! Red de lente is an in-depth Dutch podcast series about the overuse of pesticides in Dutch farming. It´s taking a very broad view on the problem, with interviews starring growers, farmers, regulators, the pesticide industry and innovative companies who offer biological alternatives to pesticides. The tone is balanced, yet no fig leaf is applied to the lies and deceptions of this polluting practice.

From Marjan: The Flemish history podcast Geschiedenis voor herbeginners is really good at explaining the effect of the global temperature changes in human (recent) history on societies. Check out Wat zijn nu twee graadjes warmer of kouder?!

From Jacqueline: With COP29 happening in Baku next month, I started following the German climate activitst Liz on Instagram. Following her bike travel from Berlin to Baku provides beautiful imagery and information on the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference!

Do you want to share something you read, saw or listened to with other newsletter readers? Send us an e-mail at contact@scientists4future.nl!

Upcoming events

November

December

  •  10 December: national meeting (Zoom)

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