A week since Donald Trump entered the White House, he signed a gag order for the employees of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the fear is that the agency is in the President's crosshairs for two reasons - its involvement in climate change, and its regulation that harms companies in the oil and gas industry
The United States has been the leading scientific power in the world for the past few decades, perhaps even since the late 20s. Now science in the US is in a crisis that no one expected. Many scientists working for the government, especially those dealing with climate change and other politically sensitive issues, fear that their work will clash with the new bosses' ideology, if not worse. The shock of the flood of presidential orders restricting science in less than a week brought scientists Organize a march for science soon, similar to the women's march that took place in Washington with the participation of over a million people the day after Trump's inauguration.
On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 12 noon EST, the same second that Donald Trump officially became president, the White House website was changed. As usual in such cases, all the pages that were added during the days of the previous administration are moved to the archive, this time all the pages that dealt with global warming (and LGBT rights and probably other issues) disappeared from the face of the earth and the internet. It may sound like a symbolic move, but it turns out that it shows the intention behind it. From what happened in the following days, it seems that this was a sign of a much more widespread phenomenon - the denial of climate change at the government level, and the silencing of civil servants who might support a theory that gains scientific consensus only because of the influence of oil giants.
At the beginning of the week, Trump signed a regulation allowing the construction of a long oil pipeline from Canada to refineries in Texas. The project has had ups and downs and the outgoing president, Barack Obama, took delaying measures to stop it from harming the environment.
But later an even more serious injury was done - all employees of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were ordered to stop talking to journalists or uploading any posts on social networks and as if this step was not enough, they feel an ever closer threat of reducing their authority, and firing most of the employees, after the president issued The order ordering the agency to stop awarding grants for new research and signing new authorizations with suppliers or employees, except in relation to monitoring air pollution within the United States. Other entities that received a media silence order are the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is also responsible, among other things, for the National Parks Authority, which on its Twitter account retweeted a post showing the sparseness of the crowd at Trump's inauguration ceremony.
The Environmental Protection Agency is in the crosshairs of the Trump administration from two directions - one is its engagement with climate change and the other - its regulations harm oil and gas companies, Trump's favorite. His nominee to head the agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Porritt, is a climate skeptic and friend of the fossil fuel industry. He has made a career of suing the agency to weaken its regulations. The agency has been ordered to remove from its website a section dedicated to climate change but as of this writing, The page is still live.
The scientists of the US Department of Agriculture's research division are prohibited from communicating with the public regarding the research they conduct with taxpayer funding. In general, the USDA is less politically sensitive than the EPA, although it invests in genetically modified food and pesticide research. However, the ministry used research funds to study how to cut emissions of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases that cause warming.
Separately, the Health Department has been directed to require its sub-agencies -- the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)) to withhold new media releases until the administration reviews them.
At NASA's Science Mission Administration, business is still business as usual without an instruction to stop communications. NASA's mandate explicitly states that the agency aims to provide the general public with information about the activities and their results. However, this clause does not guarantee protection to NASA. The EPA also has an entire document stating that the agency is obligated to provide the public with information about the quality of the environment.
In an investigation by the SPACE NEWS website on the effects of Trump's election on the space field The experts explain that Robert Walker, a space advisor to Trump's election headquarters and former chairman of the Space Science and Technology Committee in the Senate, proposes to change the mission of the agency and divert it from Earth research to space research, while transferring Earth research activities to NOAA or the US Geological Survey at USGS, and even then with budget cuts.
According to experts, these steps are further evidence of Trump's anti-science views. Silencing the employees is a step on the way to weakening the agencies, and it takes them back to the era of President Bush Jr. when the government actively tried to suppress research - then it was mostly stem cell research.
Michael Heltzik writes in an opinion column published on the Los Angeles Times website Because it got to such an individual level that tweets from Badlands National Park in South Dakota, which referred to greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on the climate were removed. A few hours later, the National Parks Authority published: "We are sorry for the unintentional retweet and are happy to continue sharing with you the beauty and history of the national parks."
Many scientists see this attack as a reflection of President Trump's position, which is reflected in calling climate change a "Chinese hoax" during the election campaign. He also hinted that he believed there was a link between vaccines and autism, and during the transition period, the new administration collected the names of Energy Department employees dealing with climate change. That prompted outgoing Energy Secretary Ernest Muniz to take steps to protect the integrity of Energy Department researchers from political interference before the new administration takes office.
"There is a feeling that the new administration does not trust the scientists working for the government to be its allies in presenting its political agenda." says Michael Eisen, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley. He cited as an example the employees of the National Institutes of Health and other agencies of the Ministry of Health and Human Services who were instructed not to correspond with any public official, not even members of Congress. "There is no other way to look at it than as a means of gagging."
According to Heltzik, it seems that Trump's administration is taking the suspension of announcements to the public and the awarding of research grants to a much higher level than all previous administrations.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- Trump wants to cancel NASA's Earth missions
- The election of Donald Trump as president of the USA - a (wrong) response to the robot revolution
- The elimination of biological research in the Soviet Union - the Lysenko affair that managed to convince the regime to adopt his alternative biology - and caused famine
29 תגובות
To my father
"The entire troupe of soul beauties, the popoliticians and democrats who joined the choir" (?)
It seems to me that you already have a position on the matter...
however
If you are right (and there is no problem) - then everything is fine
and if you are wrong
You, your family, your children (and everyone else)
They will go where reality takes us...
Sounds like a bad deal to me.
Let's try to fix it - if we can
And if there is a problem, maybe we will succeed
and if there is no problem
we will succeed
my father
1. Man emits a huge amount of PAD into the atmosphere.
2. GHG is a greenhouse gas whose effect on the climate is energy absorption.
3. The climate is indeed warming, the oceans are warming and rising, and the poles are melting at an alarming rate.
4. We were supposed to be in a cooling off period now.
I would appreciate it if you could explain which of the four sections you disagree with, and why.
Cheers - P
The debate is not about whether or not there is warming, the debate is how much influence man has on it if any, or whether it is a cyclical phenomenon on the earth that is happening anyway.
And this is a legitimate debate that has not been decided, each side has legitimate scientific arguments, and there is no conclusive proof one way or the other.
The problem is that it was decided at the UN in a political way, and at that moment it is no longer a scientific debate but a debate about political prestige and a lot of money is invested in it and a lot of money that some parties want to be invested in it...
A lot of money is also invested in propaganda, TV movies, personalities invest all their energy in propaganda, Arnold Schwarzenegger who comes out of his fence, and the whole band of beautiful souls, pop politicians and democrats who joined this chorus until it became a war of left and right or democrats and republicans.
The issue is getting signs of pantheistic religion, (like the debate between creationists and devinists).
I'm a bit sorry that this political masking masks the scientific truth.
Serious scientists no longer dare to deal with the subject, and thus the truth will never be known.
And regarding the debate as to whether the warming is due to man's influence or not, it is a legitimate debate. that despite the tremendous efforts to silence it and make it a global political and economic consensus... it still continues.
It is very unfortunate that scientists are involved in politics, get stuck in consensus...
In my opinion, science should always question, test, investigate and provoke debates.
It is interesting that the Democrats now appear to be less democratic.
They firmly refuse to accept the decision of the democratic majority in their country.
When the Republicans lost the election and not by such a big margin they didn't go out of their way like the Democrats do.
Trump hasn't had time to do anything yet and every word he utters causes a hurricane.
On the subject of global warming, even the democratic United States did not cooperate, and did not save even a gram of CO2 from the atmosphere.
So he said - well he said, for the time being he didn't do anything, and in that he is no different from Obama.
Besides, this nice site should deal with pure science and not politics.
my father
The so-called "anonymous" is a typical talkbackist who does not understand anything about science. It's a shame that you waste any energy on it - it's just wasted. He enjoys seeing that his comments are published immediately and enjoys seeing the results of the provocation.
in another matter:
The simple proof of global warming is sea level rise. This is conclusive proof and there is no need to add anything to it. Each cm of sea level rise contains 4000 billion cubic meters of water coming from the melting of the polar glaciers.
I have nothing to do with the Democratic Party. They lost dozens of times and science progressed, sometimes more slowly, sometimes countries like Israel progressed more than the US, for example in the case of stem cell research that was stopped by President Bush Jr., but there was never an attack on so many issues that are not just in their infancy like The stem cells but deep in consensus.
And one more thing, a person from the settlement, science is not a hobby, it is necessary for the progress of our lives. Without science would you write this comment on a computer or phone or would you have to scribble it on a cave wall.
This is even before talking that everything that could be easily discovered has already been discovered, today huge facilities are needed to penetrate another layer of the secrets of the universe, no private company will build a particle accelerator. Even the space station is already maintained by 16 countries.
This site says it is an alternative site. A government should get its information from the mainstream, from those who only care about science, and not from those who invent their own "science" that enforces the polluters' demand that they get off their faces, instead of stopping polluting.
who tells me The physics of greenhouse gases that are at an all-time high in the last tens of millions of years.
And above is a lot, you have seen what it has caused so far.
"Canceled the warm-up"?! Another bad joke…
Trump dismissed the nonsense of the lobby that opposes the use of oil.
In general, Trump shuts the mouths that stink until now - and against that all the stinkers come out of their mouths... so stop gloating.
If Trump "abolishes gravity" then all the delusional people will decide that they are against the abolition of gravity (no relation to the facts) :))
And in general, how can you talk about global warming and that it is the USA's fault - without you or anyone on earth having any idea what it is about? After all, you don't know who or what is to blame for the warming of the earth by a degree or two - just like you don't know if in a hundred years there will be a cooling of two or three degrees...
The Democrats lost and they don't know what to do with themselves and are going out of their minds.
The whole global warming thing is man made
She is anti-scientific communist bullshit
And Trump knows it well
http://freedom-articles.toolsforfreedom.com/scientists-refute-manmade-global-warming/
more broadly
There should be a separation between the state and science, art and culture
and let the private market and private philanthropists promote science, art and any other field close to their hearts
Anonymous - Science is not a program as you request. The science in this field is very clear, it is impossible to control alt delit for warming up in vain.
There is no matter of opinion here. Tomorrow he can cancel gravity, so what, will that change anything?
At the same time, I am quite optimistic about finding various technological solutions that will make it possible to cool the earth again despite the stupid actions of Trump and his friends. Here is an example of some such ideas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJePzjDEt4A
He is just like a fool who drills a hole in the boat he is sailing in, one would think that he and his family and descendants will not suffer the consequences of the stupid decisions he makes.
Spring.
The media problem begins - as you hinted - when the journalist starts mixing his opinions with his news.
And a talented journalist is one who knows how to separate the two things.
The USA wants to eliminate science?! Bad joke!
Cheap demagoguery.
No one - except religious radicals/fanatics - wants to eliminate science.
Again: stop rambling.
And your nonsense about the Chinese leaving the US will lead to the collapse of science in the US, this is it again: complete nonsense.
There is a good chance that this will actually lead to a shortage of American scientists and the administration will begin to encourage the youth to choose the path of education and science. Which in turn will bring some of the youth access to and apprenticeship in the sciences. Which, of course, will eventually lead to a growth in the number of American scientists. For your long nose and your unjustified anger.
Usually leaders try to get along with the people and not go against them. There is still a democracy in the USA, that is, until they pass the laws there in the way of banning demonstrations like they did in the issue of the oil pipeline in North Dakota. There, a police officer decided to arrest Eithnoa because she expressed sympathy with the protesters and is therefore an activist and not a journalist. If so, I should have been arrested several times in the XNUMXs because I sympathized, even as a journalist, with the ordinary citizens protesting against air pollution, over those who said that pollution meant jobs.
People don't understand the difference between neutral and objective. A journalist must be neutral, and in terms of objectivity, sometimes the gap is so great and one side is right, and the other is not. - It is impossible to make a balance between truth and lies.
China invests in science, and the US invests in the elimination of science. In the end, because of all the limitations, the hundreds of thousands of Chinese scientists at US universities who are already carrying out groundbreaking research will return to China and then it will be an own goal. The USA without science cannot be great, and he does not understand that.
In any case, we have long passed the "no return" point of global climate change. The ability to deny the change or to attribute it to "natural" climate changes is also fading like the glaciers in Glacier Park in the USA. There is no political capacity in the US to bring about a real and profound change in the patterns of energy consumption or production, neither in the US nor anywhere else in the world. It didn't happen during the Obama administration, it wouldn't happen during the Clinton administration and probably won't happen during the Trump era either. And we haven't even talked about the rest of the world walking around with their finger stuck somewhere without doing anything, as if they have no responsibility of their own, and as if the White House is the abode of the leader of the entire world, and not just 3% of the world's population.
In the current situation, something will change only after the global catastrophe begins to painfully hit the richest and most powerful places. Or then they will start to move their ass and mobilize the necessary resources to reduce the damage already caused, and fundamentally change the entire way of life of the wealthier parts of the human race.
Haimf
Just yesterday you asked not to mix science and politics. And you asked not to be dragged after the lunatics who mix politics with science.
And here you yourself are dragging others...
You contradict yourself like a common Jew who imagines he is a Christian and turns his other cheek to accept the contradiction. Only that in your case the contradiction comes from your own spoon... "That way it hurts less" you probably answer and convince yourself...
Spring.
come on…
"China will pass the USA on a scientific level"... what's wrong?
So the Chinese will be ahead of the US... but science will advance!
If the promotion of science by the Chinese instead of the US bothers you - then you don't care about science. Do you care about the political system that believes in the field of science.... And hence your claim is not on the side of science but on the politics of a certain faction. Nothing more. And stop rambling.
The "March for Science" is just like the "Women's March against Trump" and the other "parades" against the American president that the majority of Americans chose...
In other words - fussing with clothing.
The crooked are trying (after they lost, and the mountains of butter melted on their heads :)) ) to run the country through the media and through demonstrations.... What losers.
Lorem thanks for the link. Regardless, the situation right now is appalling regardless of politics, this is very important. If scientists are fired and programs are cancelled, it will be very difficult to repair the damage later, and in the meantime China will pass the USA on a scientific level. I'm not sure he meant it but that would be the result.
This is a site for the advancement of science. Right now what is being done is harming science, and harming science is harming humanity. It's really not political. Any other Republican president would have treated science with respect.
Leave you nonsense. Have you heard of VFTS 352? A new double star found in the Large Magellanic Cloud, in the Tarantula Nebula. Each of the stars is an O-type blue giant, with a mass of over 28 solar masses, a diameter 7 times the diameter of the Sun, and a luminosity of 150,000 and 180,000 times that of the Sun. They are so close together that they actually touch each other, with a cycle time of 1.25 days. We actually have an hourglass somewhere in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and it's only a matter of time before something phenomenal and spectacular happens there.
http://astronomynow.com/2015/10/21/final-kiss-of-two-stars-heading-for-catastrophe/
Is it a popular science site or a site to promote opinions belonging to a certain political camp?
Trump is an accident to the human race.
Thus it is a combination of megalomania, stupidity, lack of political experience, and enormous self-confidence. The Americans put this man in the greatest position of power in the world.
People think it's a left-right thing. It's a mistake! The problem here is completely personal. I could have been much calmer if any of the other candidates, Republicans or Democrats, had been elected.
All we have to do is observe with anxiety his first series of actions: provocative and belligerent:
Trump to the CEOs of the American car giants: "Concern for the environment is out of control".
The US President has deleted all mention of global warming from the White House website
Trump threatens Chicago: "Reduce the violence or I will send federal forces"
The wall of Mexico is underway: "From today we will restore the borders". oblige Mexico to pay for the entire construction of the wall.
No funding for the wall? The meeting (Trump-President of Mexico) was canceled