Climate and health

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Gerben ter Riet Epidemiologists love the term ‘risk’. They try to quantify health risks. This is not easy when it comes to health risks as a result of man-made global warming. Health itself is a difficult concept. In the past, it meant ‘absence of disease’, but later it came to refer to complete physical, mental … Read more

Celebrating the Paris Agreement with mixed feelings

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To mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, Scientist Rebellion and Scientists for Future opened up the Climate Wiki for public use on 12 December. This took place with the presentation of the QR code for the Climate Wiki to Saskia Kluit (GroenLinks/PvdA), member of the Senate and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of … Read more

Climate crisis and political crisis

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Sander Otte My name is Sander Otte, professor of technical physics at Delft University of Technology. My area of expertise is quantum physics. You may not immediately associate quantum physics with the climate problem. However, there is an important connection. Only quantum physics can explain why a carbon dioxide molecule absorbs infrared radiation, while a … Read more

How Shell became deeply entrenched in academia

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Shell’s influence on the energy transition also extends to the lecture hall. The oil giant is helping to shape the language, tone and direction of the energy transition. This is a summary of an article that appeared in the daily newspaper Trouw on 12 December. It was written by Sjors Roeters in collaboration with the … Read more

With citizens at the wheel, heading in the right direction

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Sergej van Middendorp On Monday 1 December, the National Citizens’ Climate Assembly presented its advice to the government. In a comprehensive report, the 175 Dutch citizens who formed the assembly made 23 recommendations in response to the question posed by politicians to the citizens’ assembly: “How can we, as the Netherlands, eat, use goods and … Read more

XR and SR spoil the party for the super-rich

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On Saturday afternoon, 13 December, more than 200 activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Scientist Rebellion (SR) disrupted the Masters Expo at the RAI, formerly known as the Millionaires Fair. They demonstrated against this party for the super-rich with the message: the super-rich cost too much. The activists are calling for a redistribution of wealth. … Read more

Make the super-rich pay

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The myth of the ‘self-made millionaire’ conceals a system of privilege and exploitation  Eva de Bock & Anna Sach Welcome to the community of greatness. Be here & be great. At first glance, this bombastic, elitist language seems to come straight from Trumpian political theatre, far removed from the down-to-earth attitude of the Netherlands. Yet these … Read more

The EU and 1.5 °C

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Arthur Oldeman The EU presented new emission targets (90% reduction compared to 1990 by 2040 and between 66% and 72% by 2035) on top of the already established 55% by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. The EU claims to be committed to the 1.5 °C target in the Paris Agreement. However, a calculation based … Read more

Extreme urgency

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There is little time left to prevent global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from exceeding 1.5 °C (compared to the pre-industrial period). In other words, the amount of greenhouse gases we can still emit – the carbon reserve – is almost depleted. Meanwhile, in the United States, President Donald Trump is rapidly dismantling virtually … Read more

Why I’m active: Arjen Markus

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I have been involved in water quality studies for more than 30 years now, mostly concerning coastal areas but also inland waters. Over the years I have seen the focus of such studies change between heavy metals, nutrients and emerging contaminants such medicines, pesticides, (micro)plastics and PFAS. I have also seen the problems concerning climate … Read more