{"id":2917,"date":"2024-08-12T16:50:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T14:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scientistrebellion.de\/?page_id=2917"},"modified":"2025-08-29T15:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T13:45:14","slug":"blindfoldingactions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/scientistrebellion.de\/de\/blindfoldingactions\/","title":{"rendered":"Blindfolding Actions"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The science is clear - \nwhy are we ignoring it?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Over the past 2-3 years Scientist Rebellion members have blindfolded or gagged statues in many countries, e.g. Germany, The Netherlands, the US, France etc.<\/p>

Statues erected in the public space express recognition of a political, economical, artistic influence on our society. They represent people who symbolise a form of power.\u00a0<\/p>

By targeting statues we highlight issues within society that are not in line with the crisis we are in. This can be either public figures who do not live up to their responsibility, or the silencing of scientific facts through populist politicians or police violence directed at non-violent protesters.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Giga Thirst<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Fountains in Berlin<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Are you thirsty right now? It’s a warm day, so perhaps you should first have another sip. Isn’t it convenient to have fresh drinking water easily available?<\/p>

Probably you never thought about how it\u00a0 is to live in a water-scarce area, right?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I did. It is perhaps not quite noticeable because we are surrounded by water bodies, but Berlin-Brandenburg receives the lowest rainfall in Germany. The name of our issue is recharging.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Our water – the water in the lakes, in my fountain, and in your home when you open your tap – comes from shallow groundwater of the Spree. This reserve of water is slowly declining.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Musk probably thought about how thirsty you are. He actually made the case to the Brandenburg government that he is more thirsty than you. His Gigafactory is thirsty for 1.4 million cubic meters of water per year, or as much as 31,000 persons consume in this period!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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There is the idea that Tesla could produce batteries too, something that would require a much larger amount of water.<\/p>

Also, car production is all but a clean business. Tesla\u2019s Gigafactory did not receive full clearance before starting its production of electric vehicles at the heart of a water recharge area in 2021.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In recent reports, the IGB (Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries) expressed its concern about the discharge of polluted water close to wells from the Berliner Wasserbetriebe. Berlin\u2019s water supply and wastewater disposal system is partially closed, so contaminants could be extracted and circulated over and over again.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Unfortunately, the only one checking whether Tesla correctly treats water before discharging it in the M\u00fcggelsee area\u2026 is Tesla itself! And in view of the dozens of environmental accidents registered since the factory opened (leaks of paint, liquid aluminum, and even an illegal waste dump) our water might have a bitter aftertaste.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The statues we gagged express fear, sadness, anger, and even despair. This is what people of Berlin-Brandenburg might feel when thinking about the impacts of Tesla Gigafactory on our water and in the silencing of their voices.<\/p>

Let’s reclaim our water! Stop Tesla!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>

https:\/\/www.igb-berlin.de\/en\/news\/berlin-brandenburg-region-and-tesla-gigafactory(https:\/\/www.igb-berlin.de\/en\/news\/berlin-brandenburg-region-and-tesla-gigafactory)<\/p>

https:\/\/t-den-hahn-abdrehen.org\/eine-gigafabrik-im-trinkwasserschutzgebiet\/(https:\/\/t-den-hahn-abdrehen.org\/eine-gigafabrik-im-trinkwasserschutzgebiet\/)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ignored IPCC reports<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The text on the blindfold reads \u201cIPCC<\/strong>\u201d and refers to reports on climate change put together by hundreds of scientists around the world in order for political actors to make informed decisions and act according to scientific facts pertaining to climate change and its consequences.<\/p>

You can consult the IPCC reports at: https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/reports\/<\/a><\/p>

The IPCC reports have been released regularly over the past decade, but policy-makers have never seriously followed-up on the scientific reality and on the transformative scenarios proposed in the reports. Neither the media nor the civil society have reacted strongly enough to trigger the change that is needed. While we as Europeans view ourselves as reasonable, grounded problem solvers, we are in fact ignoring the extent of the problem, and not acting on it the way we should \u2013 and it is becoming bigger, and growing more unmanageable, if we keep ignoring it!<\/p>

By blindfolding statues, we want to denounce how influential personae keep ignoring the reality of the climate and biodiversity crises as well as the transformative solutions proposed in the IPCC reports.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Silenced Science<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Imagine a world where scientists are forbidden to speak up, forbidden to communicate their results or have them taught at school. A world in which there would be no voice to tell about threats on our world as we know it. Mankind wouldn’t be able to cope with danger, with crises, with the complexity of the world.<\/div>

We are lucky enough not to be in this situation. Scientific results are published, recognized, as it is the case with the IPCC reports. Nonetheless, policy-makers have never seriously followed up on the scientific reality and on the transformative scenarios proposed in the reports. Neither the media nor the civil society have reacted strongly enough to trigger the change that is needed. While we as Europeans view ourselves as reasonable, grounded problem solvers, we are in fact ignoring the severity of the crisis, and not acting on it the way we should \u2013 and it is growing more destructive as we keep ignoring it!<\/p>

The gagged scientist statues show how those raising the alarm have been silenced and dismissed for decades. These voices were as diverse as those of economists warning for the consequences of capitalism and industrialization, educators insisting on the necessity of education being dispensed to all social classes, philosophers warning about the risks of not exerting critical thinking. Einstein addressed the control of the sources of information by corporate interests as a threat to welfare<\/a> in 1949, and Alexander von Humboldt pointed as early as 1844 that coal mining and deforestation would modify the climate<\/a>. The knowledge of climate evolution and its impact on human societies has been available for a long time!<\/p>

Some statues of scientists are gagged, as symbol of their scientific alarm raising being ignored for decades.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Criminalisation of peaceful protesters<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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