File:Burning the Data.png

Earth Science / Environmental Security - Global Security

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2018/06/13/452065/burning-the-data/

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_and_Space,_Politics

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_News

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/New_Definitions_of_National_Security

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Since human-caused changes to the Earth’s climate were first identified in the late 1800s, the scientific community has continually advanced its understanding of the processes underlying observed changes, the potential impacts, and solutions. 1 Scientists are confident that we are living through the warmest period in human history and that human activities are the main cause of climate change.2 Climate science has developed due in great part to the persistent, skeptical nature of the scientific method; the dedication and mission of its practitioners; and a bounty of data and analysis. New observations and data spark scientists to hypothesize, analyze, and draw conclusions, as well as feed additional study. The U.S. Congress has long funded and defended this virtuous cycle of discovery and its solid foundation of climate and energy data and research on a bipartisan basis; nonpartisan federal career staff have managed the programs; and scientists in government and academia have advanced their findings in the United States and abroad, underpinning the international understanding of and response to the climate challenge. These champions understand the benefits of the scientific endeavor and the urgent need to combat climate change.3 To date, the abundance of climate and energy data and their increasingly diverse sources, levels of precision, and wide range of practical applications have increased Americans’ understanding of the global climate system and benefitted users from a wide range of fields, including scientists, policymakers, business leaders, and farmers, among others.

Donald Trump’s presidency has fundamentally changed this state of affairs. President Trump, his political appointees, and his congressional allies have repeatedly attacked federal programs that operate or fund climate and energy data and research....

The Trump administration’s budget proposals and explicit attacks on science, scientists, and scientific norms indicate their intent is to undermine not just individual programs, but the entire scientific process, and in so doing to cast doubt upon the severity of the climate challenge facing the United States and the world...

President Trump and his allies seek nothing less than to burn the data. By targeting climate and energy data and research, the persistent, well-funded, industry-connected fringe of commentators, policymakers, and researchers who deny the science and reality of climate change are augmenting their former tactic of sowing doubt about published and accepted research by additionally seeking to tear up the scientific apparatus, root and branch. By creating gaps in data, forcing out the federal science workforce, changing how science is used to make decisions, and undermining the performance of federal scientific endeavors and partnerships, Trump and his allies seek to erode public confidence in climate science and in facts themselves. Because climate change poses unprecedented threats to the lives, livelihoods, security, and safety of the American people, monitoring, publicizing, and defending against these attacks on science is not just a matter of transparency or advocacy — it is one of survival.

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