Er verlor bei der monatelangen Arbeits-Reise nicht nur seine berufliche Stelle (obwohl er "auf Tour" ganz normal weiter arbeitete), sondern auch seine Lebens-Beziehung und sein gesamtes Geld. Sein Vater macht sich derweil Sorgen und hofft vor allem, seinen Sohn zu Weihnachten wieder zu sehen. Forscher-Kollege Gianluca Grimalda hat während der gesamten Zeit gefilmt, auch in den entlegensten Ecken der Welt und unter fürchterlichen Anstrengungen (ich kann das echt nachvollziehen, die angeblich "romantischen" Orte der Welt sind meist die anstrengensten).
Paolo Casalis hat ein tolles Road Movie aus den hunderten Stunden Film-Material geschnitten Schaut euch an, wie Reisen und Forschen auch anders geht.
Auf deutsch heißt der Film "Der Wissenschaftler" und kommt am 25. Februar 2025 in die Kinos und ins Netz, auf englisch heißt er "The Researcher", auf italienisch "Il Ricercatore".
Sehr herzlich eure: Markito nebst Gianluca & Paolo (Produzioni Fuorifuoco)
A first step on the road to climate conscientious objection
An act of private, but civil, disobedience
A letter by Dr. Gianluca Grimalda
It’s been a very long year. On the 27th September 2023, I received the invitation to attend an apparently normal work videocall, I would have not expected to become, within a week, the first employee to be fired for his refusal to take a plane to reduce his emissions. I was at the end of my fourth fieldwork in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, studying societal adaptation to climate change and market integration. I had been slow-travelling for about 13 years, inspired by the slow-travel journey made by the Scientists for Global Responsibility when travelling from Europe to Kyoto for COP3 in 1997. Travelling by land and sea, as opposed to taking a plane, reduces emissions approximately by 10 times. I was extremely grateful to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) to have approved 31 research-related trips for a total of 261 days during the 10 years I had been working with them.
In this videocall, the IfW President requested me to return in 5 days or be fired. I knew that my fieldwork had suffered a massive delay, due to circumstances outside my influence. As much as I would like, I am unable to control armed robberies, volcano activity, and other such circumstances. I could fully understand that, according to the original travel plan, I should have already been in Germany at that time. However, my presence in Germany was not required. I didn’t teach, and all our departmental meetings took place online. There was nothing I would have done in Kiel that I couldn’t have done while travelling.
For that reason, my conscience as a citizen aware of a possible imminent climate collapse said I could not agree to that request. my belief in the need to do all of what I can to avert climate collapse inormed my decision, in line with my work my employer’s ethics, to refuse high carbon flying. Already slow-travelling to Papua, emitting 500kg of CO2, was something I didn’t take lightly. When I communicated my decision to the Institute and to the public, I had no idea what kind of impact my action would have had. Some journalists told me none would have taken any notice. Not a single friend or colleague told me I was doing the right thing.Even so, I remained convinced of my action. I had promised to all the thousands of people I had met in the 30 villages I visited for my research that I would do my best to reduce my personal emissions. These people are already suffering because of climate change. The first people recognised as climate refugees, the inhabitants of the Carteret islands, are from this area. coastal communities had to relocate inland because of sea level rise). Residents said that food is getting scarcer and scarcer because of global warming and the dry season getting longer. About two thirds of Bougainville residents do nothave food security, because of CO2 induced climate change.. Getting on a plane would undermine any future research after I have already broken the trust they have in me.
In January 2025, after more than a year of legal battles, I obtained the legal recognition that my contract termination, in the way it happened, was unlawful. After my first appeal at the Regional Labour Court was rejected in February, I accepted the settlement proposed by the Court in the second appeal. The settlement stipulates that the contract was terminated because of incompatible ideological convictions, rather than a breach of contract from my side. Ultimately, this means that the dismissal for my refusal to take a plane was not justified. In the words of Jörn Broschat, the lawyer who would have defended me for free in case of defeat, “this legal case was a milestone in the emerging discussion about the rights of employees to stand up for their climate principles as part of their professional obligations”. In my view, this is the first step on the way to obtain the legal recognition of climate-based conscientious objector . Hopefully my case will inspire more employees, institutions and companies to actively support the transition from fossil fuel-based economies to decarbonized and people-centered societies.
In view of the strained employer-employee relationship,, I agreed to receive a severance payment from IfW when I left my employment. Its exact amount can not be disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement. I intend to donate 75,000 euros, part of this severance payment, for the purpose of environmental and climate protection and climate activism.
I want to donate to many groups, as I'm convinced that we need action on several fronts to create the massive system change that is needed. The largest part of my donations will go to Scientist Rebellion, with whom I have participated in several actions after the failure of COP26. It also includes other groups, like Juststopoil and Extinction Rebellion, whose members have put their whole lives on the line to raise the alarm on the unfolding climate crisis. I'll also donate to GiveDirectly,which has a program of direct cash transfers to African people exposed to climate change.
Overall, I feel proud of what I have achieved, but also anxious because I am still jobless. In spite of many job applications I submitted, my search for a job has been unsuccessful thus far. I am still confident I will find something by the start of the next academic year. In the meantime, I have got funding to travel to Bougainville again, to complete the research started in previous fieldworks. I am happy I am able to keep my promise to the local communities that I will share with them what we have learned about adaptation to climate change.
If you want to sustain me financially: https://ko-fi.com/ggrimalda
If you want to know more about my journey, the film director Paolo Casalis has made a documentary about it, available for download and streaming here: https://www.produzionifuorifuoco.it/portfolio_researcher.html . All the scenes in the movie were shot by myself (or friends) with my mobile phone and a gimbal. I forfeited all royalties to the film director, to have the opportunity to talk about climate change to a larger public than what I could normally speak to.
