A wrench stuck between two gears.
And if you're interested in the topic of exnovation, you can sign up for our next session, in July in Latvia, on "LowTech, Luddism and Liberation: reclaiming technology for the collective good", which has just opened for registration! n/n
www.nsuweb.org/circle-9-deg...
See Monster - a repurposed oil rig art installation in Weston-upon-Mare, UK: https://seemonster.co.uk/
We will delve into these questions next week at our study circle on "Abolishing the fossil regime", in Oslo, the oil capital of Europe. Hosted by the Nordic Summer University, we are bringing together scholars, change-makers and policy-makers to figure out how to undo extractivist institutions. 4/n
Where are the institutes for deconstructing oil rigs? For closing down pipelines? For dismantling capital? When do we get a research center on how to drive Equinor & Total to oblivion? A lab for experimental studies on undoing the fossil grip on our lives & building smthing better in its stead? 3/n
In it, she also interviews the scholar who first introduced me to the topic, @jenniecstephens.bsky.social. In her words:
"There is a strong focus in academia on innovation and change through coming up with something new rather than achieving change by stopping something." 2/n
"𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐎𝐢𝐥?" I was recently interviewed by @kgjengedal.snabelen.no.ap.brid.gy for @forskerforum.bsky.social, as part of a great article on the topic of exnovation and its glaring absence from research priorities.
www.forskerforum.no/reportasje/p... 1/n
Luddite poster
A wrench in between two gears
“A prosthesis maintenance day at the hackerspace (and more)”. Image Credit: The.lemonaut.ukr / Wikimedia Commons / CC license
Grab your wrenches! "Low-Tech, Luddism & Liberation: reclaiming technology for the collective good." Our upcoming Nordic Summer University summer session to learn & critically discuss how to dismantle techno-fascism while fostering conviviality is open 4 registration: www.nsuweb.org/circle-9-deg...
Not as far as I know, but here is a recording of a similar talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLp2...
Join me in Oslo on March 4th @uio.no for a conversation on building counter-power in academia:
www.uio.no/english/abou...
SRTI Actions in 2025 – Part 1
Actions matter! Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island rose to many of the challenges of 2025, showing up to challenge the climate backsliding, the attacks on science, and the rise of authoritarianism over the year. Here's a rundown of over forty ways SRTI Rebels turned…
Btw, we are still collecting signatures to stop Swiss academic collaborations with Israel via our national funding agency. Please sign here!
framaforms.org/open-letter-...
Notebook with info about my talk tomorrow, on Jan 21 at 12 PM on zoom
Cover of my book Science in Resistance
Worried about the role of science in a world on fire and under rising fascism? Then come to my lunch talk tomorrow, Jan 21 at 12 PM CET, with @jeannetteeggers.bsky.social on Researcher's Desk, where we'll talk about my new book Science in Resistance. Open to all! us02web.zoom.us/j/6639856178
May I once again not-at-all-humbly reiterate what I said back in 2022: the centrist brain-worm that "energy security" comes from crawling from dependence on one fossil fuel supplier to another is absolute bullshit: Europe could and should have been reducing gas reliance faster for the past 3 years
On Wednesday Jan 21 at 12 noon, Fernando Racimo will present his new book “Science in Resistance: The Scientist Rebellion for Climate Justice” at a @researchersdesk.bsky.social lunch seminar.
The Zoom link is: us02web.zoom.us/j/6639856178.
Welcome!
bsky.app/profile/rese...
Thanks Aaron! Hope you enjoy it. There are several citations peppered throughout the book to your (super valuable) work!
This one by @ferracimo.bsky.social ...
"If you're a researcher & want to have real-world impact, this is essential reading"- @charliejgardner.bsky.social
"A vital read for academic relevance in our century of climate, ecological & political crises'- @jksteinberger.bsky.social
Thanks to Yale @climateconnections.bsky.social for featuring Science in Resistance in their "toolkit of books to help you survive 2026" among great titles, incl @lukekemp.bsky.social's Goliath's Curse & @amitavghosh.bsky.social's Wild Fictions. Check it out yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/01/a-pr...
"It’s far from unreasonable to expect scientists and the academic community to act in line with their own knowledge and warnings, and I think it’s fair to say that (like most other parts of society) academia isn’t responding robustly to a world that’s literally and metaphorically on fire."
SMBE2026 Symposium L05 | The role and responsibilities of the SMBE community in facing the polycrisis
SMBE2026 Symposium L05 | The role and responsibilities of the SMBE community in facing the polycrisis
📨 Abstract submission
smbe2026.org/abstracts
📋 Programme details
smbe2026.org/programme
#SMBE2026
Beginning of Science in Resistance's Chapter 6 - "The Enemy Within"
Cover of the book Science in Resistance
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧: 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥
We often think of universities as sites of knowledge creation & critical thinking. And in a (decreasing) number of ways, they are still so. But as I explain in my new book Science in Resistance, they are also pillars of the fossil economy 1/n
To learn more about the many fossil ties running within university hallways, and how students, academics and civil society groups are organizing and fighting back, check out my new book Science in Resistance: www.ucpress.edu/books/scienc... n/n
Student protest against EACOP
Climate protest by SR Uganda
Many students and academics have risen in resistance in Uganda and Tanzania against the EACOP pipeline, many suffering violence & arrest in prisons where cholera is widespread. 10/n
Student occupation of Erasmus University Rotterdam
But students & academics are fighting back. Erasmus was host to a climate occupation back in 2023: management responded by calling for the arrest of their own students. 9/n
Ayo Fola is a Nigerian academic I interviewed, witnessing similar university donations to cover up Shell's pollution in the Niger delta. As he says: "They are taking advantage of poverty. They use money to close people's eyes." 8/n
Photo of Total's EACOP pipeline
Total sponsors PhD programs in Makerere University in Uganda, even as it builds the EACOP pipeline on that same territory, destroying people's livelihoods and ecosystems at a massive scale, to be able to daily pump as much oil out of the continent as Finland consumes in a day. 7/n
These are not isolated cases. In 2022 alone, oil & gas companies funneled over 40 million pounds to UK universities in what has been termed a "colonization of academia". www.theguardian.com/environment/... Still, oil companies are practicing the old-fashioned form of resource colonization too... 6/n
Protest at the University of Cambridge denouncing its fossil ties.
And in the University of Cambridge, generous donations from oil corporations have resulted in a "BP professorship", a "Shell professorship" and a local branch of the Schlumberger company, all while claiming to be a "green university" 5/n
Investigative article on Shell's ties to Erasmus University Rotterdam
Another example is Erasmus University Rotterdam, which secretly received hundreds of thousands of dollars for oil giant Shell to have a say in its curriculum, as well as power to decide who could be allowed in the university, and featured spots in campus career fairs. 4/n
Image from SR action at DTU campus protesting the university's ties to the fossil industry
A classic example of this is the Danish Technical University, which has signed several multi-million kroner contracts with oil company Total, to build research centers to extract and burn more fossil fuels, like the DTU Center for Oil and Gas, recently rebranded to DTU Offshore: offshore.dtu.dk 3/n
Investigative reporting article from Investigate Europe about fossil fuel money being poured into academia
Second page of the chapter The Enemy Within
In Chapter 6 of the book, I explore how extractive industries have infiltrated academia, to influence curricula and research agendas, and greenwash their own image. 2/n
Beginning of Science in Resistance's Chapter 6 - "The Enemy Within"
Cover of the book Science in Resistance
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧: 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥
We often think of universities as sites of knowledge creation & critical thinking. And in a (decreasing) number of ways, they are still so. But as I explain in my new book Science in Resistance, they are also pillars of the fossil economy 1/n
