While filming an unofficial pop-up climate stand at The Great Exhibition Road Festival on Saturday, we came across this sanctioned climate art workshop. It had been organised by the Imperial College chapter of an international network known as Engineers Without Borders.
Students and academics at colleges and universities around the world are working together to try and change the way engineering is done, moving away from projects driven by power and money, towards a more sustainable and ethical approach that takes account of the needs of local communities, eco-systems and the planet.
The art workshop was an outreach exercise, introducing people to an MIT climate modelling system called EN-ROADS, which anyone can use to see how political and environmental choices could affect our planet, and also getting children and young adults expressing themselves with art and banners.
In an educational sector where the biggest ecocidal corporations often dominate, it was great to learn that the EWB students at Imperial had organised the institution’s first Green Careers Fair earlier this year, attracting around 600 students and 15 companies.
——-
Meanwhile nearby, the day had begun with a protest against the toxic sponsorship deals which the Science Museum still holds with BP, Adani and Equinor. Inside the museum, five members of Scientists for XR stood under a banner at the entrance to the Energy Gallery, while others threw a ‘Rain of Shame’ of black confetti from upper floors.
Grandparents and children helped clear up before then joining the pop-up exhibition stand erected outside the museum as an unauthorised addition to The Great Exhibition Road Festival.
Security and police attended, but clearly decided it would not be a good look to close down the stall, so throughout the day, scientists, health professionals and climate activists engaged with many of the thousands who attended the event.
The Science Museum is one of the only major cultural institutions still accepting sponsorship from companies anxious to greenwash their image while actively destroying our planet and repressing human rights in countries such as Indonesia, India and Australia.
Tube trains on the Science Museum route were also subvertised as part of the day’s actions:
