[SGRupdate] SGR's 25th Anniversary Appeal

[Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR)]

Dear Colleague

* SGR's 25th Anniversary Appeal *

SGR has marked its 25th year with a wide range of activities - arguably the
most important being those supporting the International Campaign to Abolish
Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its
work that resulted in a new UN treaty!

* A donation from you now - via
http://mydonate.bt.com/events/sgr25appeal/451450 - would really help SGR to
continue our important work.

Your past generosity has been vital in advancing the cause of ethical science,
design and technology. For example, in recent months SGR has:

- Helped the successful campaign for a new UN treaty banning nuclear weapons
agreed by 122 nations in July. As a supporter of ICAN since its inception in
2007, we have produced technical briefings on the threats from nuclear
weapons, which have been distributed to policy-makers at intergovernmental
conferences. This year we also published an online 'beginner's guide' to
nuclear weapon threats in the run-up to the UN negotiations.

- Challenged military involvement in science and engineering, which included
campaigning against new EU arms R&D budgets, making submissions to official
consultations on UK industrial strategy, and challenging New Scientist Live
over its arms industry sponsorship.

- Held a successful conference on the theme 'Creating a better world: lessons
for the next 25 years' which highlighted lessons from science, history and
engineering for rapid transition towards a cleaner, more secure future. We
also held a reception to mark our 25th anniversary at an international peace
conference in York.

- Made the case for much stronger climate change policies in a letter to all
UK political party leaders in the wake of the general election. The
government's new strategy - published in October - is an important step along
this path.

Your donation - via http://mydonate.bt.com/events/sgr25appeal/451450 - will
help us both to continue with similar activities and to carry out much more.
Our plans include:

- Publishing a new report on the links between science and engineering
charities and arms and fossil fuel corporations.

- Running educational activities for school children as part of our
Science4Society Week in March. Our competition this year asks the question 'Am
I a good scientist?' while teachers can download classroom resources on
ethical science, design and technology from our project website,
http://www.s4s.org.uk - as an alternative to those sponsored by arms and
fossil fuel corporations.

- Building on our growing audience on social media and the internet to reach
even more people with our articles, presentations and reports. In the last
year, there have been over 300,000 visits to our website.

- Continuing our existing campaign work towards a more ethical agenda right
across science, design and technology, on issues such as weapons technologies,
cleaner energy, corporate influence on science, and emerging technologies.

With the increasing risks of nuclear weapons use and climate change, it is
more important than ever that we speak out for a more ethical future. As an
organisation of professionals in key sectors, SGR has a coherent reform agenda
that unites science, design and technology with peace, social justice and
environmental sustainability. But effective campaigning costs money. To
continue to promote this agenda with like-minded professional organisations,
policy-makers, peace and environment groups, trade unions etc., we need your
support!

Make your donation go further

For our charitable work, we can accept support from the Martin Ryle Trust
(MRT). If you pay UK Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax, the MRT can claim from
HM Revenue and Customs 25p for every pound that you donate, out of the tax
that you have already paid. This means that a 50 GBP donation to MRT, for
example, is worth 62.50 GBP at no extra cost to you and will be used entirely
to support SGR's work. This is the route we are recommending for this appeal -
via the MyDonate website - see:
http://mydonate.bt.com/events/sgr25appeal/451450

Consider a legacy

If you have not already included SGR or the Martin Ryle Trust as a beneficiary
in your will, may we suggest that you consider it? For more details, please
look at this webpage - http://www.sgr.org.uk/pages/martin-ryle-trust - or if
you do not have internet access, please contact the SGR office for a copy of
the MRT legacy leaflet.

We look forward to hearing from you soon - your help is vital in keeping up
our important work and any donation you make will be very gratefully received.


Yours sincerely

Dr Philip Webber, Chair
Dr Jan Maskell, Vice-chair


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Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR)
Unit 2.8, Halton Mill
Mill Lane, Halton
Lancaster LA2 6ND
UK
tel: +44 (0) 1524 812 073
email: <info at sgr.org.uk>
http://www.sgr.org.uk/
twitter: @ResponsibleSci

SGR - promoting ethical science, design and technology
To join or donate, go to http://www.sgr.org.uk/join
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