Human-Induced Climate Change

A Statement from Colleagues in the Humanities and Social Sciences;

A Call for Analysis and Action

We, practitioners of the Humanities and Social Sciences wish to affirm that investigations and findings from our colleagues in the scientific community overwhelmingly support the conclusion that contemporary global warming is anthropogenic: that is, at least in considerable part, a consequence of our own individual and collective human actions, at all levels of local, national and international society, economy and polity. 

On the basis of the evidence, we believe that our impact on the biosphere is so serious, not to say accelerating at such a rate, that it is certain to disrupt the life-support systems upon which we, as an interconnected global community depend, and to a degree that now imperils our long-term presence as a species on this precious planet, just as it also imperils all other species who are dependent upon us for their own survival.

We cannot forecast how or when this disruption will bring absolute catastrophe in its wake, although we note that for many regions, especially in the poorest countries of the South, the impact of anthropogenic climate change, often in combination with existing aspects of environmental degradation, is already disastrous. What we can say with conviction is that we are unable to continue our professional roles as if none of this were happening.

We therefore propose that as teachers, researchers and students of complex human societies of the past and present, whether as historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, human geographers, demographers, philosophers, writers, students of politics, economics, international relations, religion, literature and culture, or of other related fields, that our role and responsibility must be directed increasingly towards an understanding of how we arrived at this point of crisis. By the same token, we must seek to understand not only how societies, polities and cultures have previously, or currently, sustained themselves in conditions of scarcity and adversity but through our own actions also take some personal responsibility by reducing our carbon footprints if not to remedy then at least to help mitigate the consequences of climate change

To this end, we, the undersigned, support the goals of Rescue!History which recognises the urgency of the situation we are now in, and seeks to develop, both individually and collectively, research, curricula, and other educational programmes of past and present societies that will contribute to disseminating knowledge about the human origins, impacts and consequences of anthropogenic climate change, while also enabling and empowering the broader public to make the epochal changes that are going to be needed if we are to survive and sustain ourselves in the face of the challenge before us.

http://rescue-history-from-climate-change.org/petition.php

Miss Vilyamdp Vilyamdp - Unknown - Unknown
Dr. Stephen Bulman - Newman College of HE - Birmingham
Mr Mirek Mirek - Medic - Moskow
Dr. Mirek Mirek - Medic - Moskow
Mr Candy Candy - Medic - Moskow
Dr. Bill Bill - Medic - Moskow
Prof. Hillary Hillary - Medic - Moskow
Miss Ashleigh Toll - Editor, Wessex Scene - University of Southampton - Southampton
Dr. Chris Callow - University of Birmingham - Birmingham
Mr David Rosenberg - Teacher and writer - London
Mr Richard Jordan - University of Southampton - Southampton
Dr. Stephen Morton - University of Southampton - Southampton
Ms Barbara Rassi - University of Southampton - Guildford
Mrs Tehmina Goskar - University of Southampton - Salisbury
Mr Ryan Jepson - Environmental Sciences - ETH, Zurich - Zurich
Mr Keith Milner - Acupuncturist -Mid Wales - Newtown
Dr. Penny Roberts - Dept of History, University of Warwick - Coventry
Ms Sarah Viner - Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield - Sheffield
Prof. Patrick Ainley - University of Greenwich - London
Dr. Sarah Pearce - University of Southampton - Southampton
Prof. Anne Curry - University of Southampton - Southampton
Prof. Dave Webb - Praxis Centre - Leeds
Dr. Joyce Canaan - UCE Birmingham - Birmingham
Dr. Mike Casselden - Chartered Town Planner & Researcher, also volunteer organiser for VegNE, a vegetarian group in the North-East of England affiliated to the Vegetarian Society - Newcastle Upon Tyne
Dr. Siew-Peng Lee - Social Anthropologist and Founder of Organic-Ally - Harrow
Ms Julie Cappleman-Morgan - Evaluation Officer/Social Researcher - Staffordshire UK
Dr. Dimitrij Mlekuž - Dept. of Archaeology, University of Ljubljana - Ljubljana
Miss Maree van Doorn - Independent field technician - Sydney
Mr Michael Morrison - James Cook University - Cairns
Dr. Umberto Albarella - Dept of Archaeology, University of Sheffield - Sheffield
Mr Martin Jelfs - Psychotherapist - Salisbury
Dr. Rob Johnson - Warwick
Mr Anthony Rudolf - London
Mr Jack Betterly - Albuquerque
Ms Athena Drakou - University of Southampton - Southampton
Mr Christopher Shaw - Seaford
Prof. Colin Feltham - Sheffield Hallam University - Sheffield
Dr. Steve Wright - Leeds Metropolitan University - LEEDS
Prof. Robin Attfield - Cardiff University - Cardiff
Dr. Roman Krznaric - Independent researcher and writer - Oxford
Dr. Mark Levene - University of Southampton - Southampton
Dr. Richard Maguire - University of East Anglia - Norwich
Dr. Jean-François Mouhot - University of Birmingham - Birmingham

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