Photo by Harrison Moore on Unsplash
Since coming into office, President Trump has been on a mission to get rid of any science that supports climate change. That may sound abrupt. At every chance, the opportunity to call climate change 'a hoax' made up by China, or pure nonsense. The Trump administration seems intent on dismissing the frequent storms and varying weather patterns as such -- historical changes that occur over time. The problem with that view is that noticeable changes are occurring in our weather patterns. Storms are more frequent.
In fact, the Trump administration cannot adequately fund the recovery of a small city or state after such storms (i.e., Hurricane Maria -- Puerto Rico, Hurricane Matthew -- Houston, Hurricane Michael - East Coast, etc.). What does the future look like with such leadership? Suppressing science must stop now. Although, in the current political climate, the chance of that happening is slim. Notably, with reporting from 'Politico Agriculture' on the administration's efforts to suppress recent science directly linked to climate change:
USDA SCIENTIST DESCRIBES CLIMATE REPORT SUPPRESSION: An Agriculture Department scientist, who has researched plants across five administrations, is quitting the department in protest of the Trump administration's efforts to bury his groundbreaking study about how rice loses nutrients due to rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Pro's Helena Bottemiller Evich reports.Lewis Ziska, a 62-year-old plant physiologist, told POLITICO he was alarmed when department officials not only questioned the findings of the study, but also tried to minimize press coverage of the paper. "You get the sense that things have changed, that this is not a place for you to be exploring things that don't agree with someone's political views," Ziska said. "That's so sad. I can't even begin to tell you how sad that is."A POLITICO investigation last month revealed USDA has routinely buried its own climate-related science. Ziska's exit follows the recent departures of several other government officials who have accused the administration of censoring climate science — including an intelligence analyst at the State Department who he left his post after administration officials blocked his testimony to Congress about the national security implications of climate change.USDA said in a statement response to Ziska's resignation that objections to promoting his rice study were based on scientific disagreement involving career officials, not political appointees. But in describing his decision to leave, Ziska painted a picture of a department in constant fear of the president and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's open skepticism about broadly accepted climate science, leading officials to go to extremes to obscure their work to avoid political blowback.While he said there was never a department memo that directed USDA scientists to be more careful with their language, it was well understood. "No one wanted to say climate change, you would say climate uncertainty or you would say extreme events," he said. "Or you would use whatever euphemism was available to not draw attention."
A report by 'Politico' detailed the suppression of the scientific report which shed light on the loss of nutrients to rice by the increase in carbon dioxide in the environment. The total estimated impact would be to 600 million people worldwide. Although the estimated range of affected is 138 million to 1.4 billion depending on which nutrient is considered. These projections caused considerable alarm for Dr. Lewis Ziska at the USDA.
Especially since the political blowback, Dr. Lewis Ziska received regarding the results published in 'Science Advances' last year. As mentioned in the article by Politico, Dr. Lewis Ziska's departure follows other career scientists at the USDA. Other federal agencies have seen the same departures under the Trump administration. Which is unprecedented. Given the Trump administration's views on science and its relation to climate change, the exits are not totally surprising.
A scientist can only work under certain restrictions before quitting (or resigning) seems like a more reasonable solution. When an administration cuts off a scientist's ability to conduct, report, and share scientific results; then science is not being carried out to the standard accepted by the scientific community. Scientists do not suppress data -- regardless of what the data shows.
The same reporter last year wrote a report on this controversy. A video is shown in the article with a brief interview with Agricultural Secretary Sonny Perdue trying to blow off the connection between man and climate change:
The video above, along with the article above (and those cited) show a continuous trend of the Trump administration suppressing science at every level. If the scientific evidence supports climate change, then hide it. That seems to be their motto. Unfortunately, that is what we (the public) are stuck with at the current moment -- at least until 2020 -- when we go to the ballot box and try to change the representation at the highest office.
I have said all along and continue to say that science is funded by the taxpayer. Therefore, each of us has a right to see the results of the scientific studies which are funded by the money we pay in annual taxes. Many people are unaware of the fact that the money paid in taxes support such research.
Further, one primary objective of the federal agencies is to educate the public based on the findings of research which is funded by taxpayer dollars. If the Trump administration (or any other administration) chooses to try to suppress scientific results; that is a direct violation of our right to know knowledge funded with our dollars. The time has already passed to demand that the Trump administration stop suppressing science. The remaining choice we have as Americans is to show up in November of 2020 and vote. Change the system with your vote.
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