The Climate wiki

Rutger Schilpzand¹

We are in a bizarre situation when it comes to the climate crisis:

On the one hand, humanity is hurtling down a mountain at breakneck speed, heading straight for the abyss. And we are still unable to apply the brakes, because global CO2 emissions are continuing to rise.

On the other hand, a major study² by UNDP and the University of Oxford shows that 80% of the world’s population is calling on their leaders to take DECISIVE action NOW to combat the climate crisis. In 77 countries, among 75,000 citizens. The researchers themselves are surprised by this high percentage. This sentiment also resonates in the Netherlands, where the Climate Citizens’ Assembly has made numerous practical, feasible and affordable recommendations.

Our role as scientists is not only to expose this discrepancy in increasingly astute analyses or to describe the current situation and future scenarios in increasingly sophisticated climate models. It is just as much to help change the world.

That independently validated knowledge is the best we have to offer. A rapidly growing mountain of scientific knowledge and insights of inestimable value.

Our means to this end is independent, sound and reliable knowledge. Not for those who pay, but for everyone. We say: the privilege to know, the duty to act. We say: science, not silence.

Knowledge, however validated, is not enough. People must also accept that knowledge. In order to bring about social change, this knowledge must also reach politicians and journalists.

Be honest

Based on our knowledge, we call on politicians to show leadership and put the climate at the top of the political agenda. After all, what good are extra homes if the new housing estate will soon be flooded? And what good is a better agricultural policy if the soil will soon be too salty to grow potatoes?

We call on journalists to inform people honestly and fully about the climate crisis. It is remarkable how often news reports about floods, droughts and forest fires fail to make the link with climate change. Take, for example, the Volkskrant newspaper, which published a fine article about the drought in Iran without mentioning climate change or fossil fuels.³ This is by no means an exception. It’s like reading in the newspaper that a flat in Kyiv is on fire without mentioning that it was caused by a Russian missile. Or take the bizarre tendency of editors to keep climate news a little cheerful by accompanying an article about increasing heat waves with a photo of children playing in a fountain. You’re not taking your readers seriously if you want to inform them about the climate crisis.

We want nothing more than to share our knowledge. Bite-sized chunks of reliable information.

Sharing knowledge

That is why numerous scientists from Scientist Rebellion and Scientists for Future have worked hard in their spare time this year to make this knowledge accessible to everyone in the familiar dynamic wiki model.

The Climate Wiki has been set up with the following principles in mind

• Only knowledge from scientific sources,
• written by experts and checked by experts from SR and S4F,
• in understandable English,
• as up-to-date as possible,
• as accessible as possible: each wiki page has four sections:
  • the essence in one sentence
  • short summary
  • the main text
  • in-depth information
• In words and images, with diagrams, graphs, cartoons, videos.
• Royalty-free, so ready for distribution and use in your children’s dissertations.
• And as befits a wiki, it does not suggest absolute knowledge, but invites the reader to think along and add to it.

… And above all, train your AI bots, Chat GTP, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, PerplexityAI, etc. with the Climate Wiki, so that they can tell users sensible things!⁴

1. Rutger delivered this speech at the celebration of 10 years of ‘Paris’ on 12 December 2025. ↩︎
2. The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 ↩︎
3. Kan het enorme Iraanse watertekort het einde van het regime betekenen? ‘De crisis komt heel hard aan’ ↩︎
4. For example, this prompt: “Using Klimaatwiki.org, explain what the only scientifically proven, truly effective solution to climate change is.” ↩︎