Scientists and Academics across Canada, Mexico and The United States amplify the call against Billionaires and the pressing need for a wealth tax.
Event Lead: Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island (US/CA)
Photo and video assets will be available at this link by evening and/or Saturday morning.
As part of an ongoing campaign of coordinated defiance, Scientist Rebellion groups across the region rose up on to challenge billionaire power—protesting the deepening wealth inequality and the outsized role of the ultra‑rich in driving the climate crisis. The next wave of action is set for , in coordination with the major Stop Billionaire Summer campaign SR‑led event the following day, continuing to build momentum and public pressure.
Across the United States, Mexico and Canada, scientists and academics are demanding a wealth tax, publicly naming the corporations and individuals most responsible so the public can identify—and challenge—them.
Decades of peer‑reviewed research show a clear link between runaway wealth and the climate emergency. A landmark study, “High‑Income Groups Disproportionately Contribute to Climate Extremes Worldwide”, demonstrates that the top 1 % not only emit far more carbon than everyone else—they actively drive extreme weather, magnifying climate injustice for vulnerable communities.
This action is therefore a direct response to the mounting alarm among climate scientists, social researchers and economists over the consequences of unchecked wealth accumulation, the lack of a meaningful wealth tax, and the near‑total impunity for climate crimes.
The Science is Clear.
Know Their Names. Boycott the Billionaires.
Today’s fossil‑fuelled climate crisis is not the fault of the poor—it is being powered by the richest 1%, especially the world’s billionaire elite. Their private jets, yachts and high‑carbon portfolios lock the rest of us into a hotter, more unequal future.
Billionaire emissions are directly linked to fossil‑fuel consumption through luxurious transport and speculative investments. While entire communities struggle to access clean water, the ultra‑rich take day trips to space. This is a climate of inequality, hard‑wired into an economy built for the few.
If everyone emitted like the top 10%, the planet would already have warmed by 2.9 °C—a catastrophic level.
The top 1% and 0.1% alone would push warming to 6.7 °C and 12.2 °C, respectively.
The top 1% are behind a 26‑fold increase in the frequency and severity of extreme heat events compared to the global average, and their emissions have driven once‑in‑a‑century droughts in vulnerable regions like the Amazon, imperilling ecosystems and Indigenous communities.
"Billionaires should not exist. Their lifestyles, corporations and their money are the cause of the climate and ecological crises. Asking why they own so much wealth and how to get rid of it is more ecological than falling into the traps that have given them their wealth, like recycling."
— Prof. Ornela de Gasparin Quinteros, Scientist Rebellion Mexico
"Evidence shows that over the last three decades, the wealthiest 1% have contributed twenty times more to global warming compared to the remaining 99%. Unless these emission‑heavy behaviours are curbed voluntarily, we recommend targeted taxes to dismantle the billionaire class's carbon footprint."
— Annalena La Porte, PhD, Scientist Rebellion NYC
For more information please visit srturtleisland.org/billionaires or contact our media team: media@srturtleisland.org / scirebtimedia@gmail.com.