{"id":167,"date":"2017-09-08T21:27:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T21:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/?p=167"},"modified":"2017-09-10T18:51:44","modified_gmt":"2017-09-10T18:51:44","slug":"the-future-of-climate-science-under-the-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/2017\/09\/08\/the-future-of-climate-science-under-the-trump-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Climate Science Under the Trump Administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the 2016 Presidential campaign Donald Trump famously made inflammatory claims in which he questioned the indisputable science of climate change. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Uninformed and vague statements on the subject of climate change left many to worry about what would happen to climate related initiatives. \u00a0What happens when the President does not believe in science?<\/span><\/p>\n

In a letter from the President\u2019s office, signed by Donald Trump, Trump claims, \u201c<\/span>[My] Administration will continue to support the rigorous scientific research that is critical to environmental protection\u201d (Trump). \u00a0In order to assess this claim I\u2019m going to be using Politifact\u2019s Truth-O-Meter rating system<\/a>. \u00a0Essentially I\u2019m not trying to catch a slip of the tongue but rather analyze a written statement, signed by the President, which I believe to be of interest to the public. <\/span><\/p>\n

Truth-O-Meter Rating: Pants on Fire, this statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim<\/span><\/p>\n

The Skinny Budget<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0In May 2017 the Trump Administration released its 2018 budget proposal to Congress for approval. \u00a0The so called \u201cSkinny Budget\u201d calls for drastic cuts in various science agencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2017\/03\/grim-budget-day-us-science-analysis-and-reaction-trumps-pla<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The graph above, produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science depicts the percent change in funding to various science and research when compared to 2016 levels. \u00a0The obvious loser in the 2018 Budget is climate science.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Exactly is Being Cut?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mick Mulvaney, chief of the Office of Management and Budget argues that the past administration spent too much on climate science. \u00a0He intends to cut spending on the \u201ccrazy stuff\u201d that was funded under the Obama administration<\/a>. \u00a0Let’s take a look at what this \u201ccrazy stuff\u201d is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arguably, one of the biggest losses in the 2018 budget proposal is NASA\u2019s Carbon Monitoring System. \u00a0<\/span>The NASA request would \u201c<\/span>kill off a research program necessary for establishing effective carbon monitoring in the United States and other countries, potentially jeopardizing the type of carbon accounting necessary to carry out the Paris climate agreement<\/a>\u201d<\/span>. \u00a0Verification and monitoring are key components to any climate agreement. \u00a0The ten million dollar program also supports a broad area of research. \u00a0Some of the most notable projects that the CMS supports are the tracking carbon emissions of forests over time, satellite based assessment of farming emissions, and study of forest fires in Amazon basin. \u00a0Additionally NASA will suffer 59 million dollars in cuts in earth science research grants. \u00a0The budget also cuts five space based missions. \u00a0One of the space based missions being cut is the Radiation Budget Instrument that would measure the overall incoming and outgoing energy of the planet. \u00a0Clearly these cuts are not reflective of an administration that values \u201crigorous scientific research\u201d (Trump).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Department of Energy additionally faces impactful budget cuts. \u00a0The DOE\u2019s Environmental and Biological Research budget will be cut by 43%, many of these cuts come from climate modeling programs. \u00a0NOAA also faces deep cuts to OAR, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. \u00a0The overall OAR budget is being cut by $31 million, much of this coming from competitive research grants and the tsunami warning program.<\/span><\/p>\n

The budget completely eliminates ARPA-E, the Energy Department’s Advanced Research wing. \u00a0ARPA-E<\/a> conducts research on advanced energy technologies in areas such as improving batteries.<\/p>\n

Research is Important<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have not covered all of the scientific research programs being cut, there are many more. \u00a0Experts fear that these harsh cuts will result in stagnation and the loss of a generation of researchers. \u00a0Research is not a waste of money, it is necessary for innovation. \u00a0The importance of research is nicely summed up by Stephen Ezell, VP of ITIF, “The administration needs to recognize there is a big difference between wasteful spending and critical investments that ensure the U.S. economy, citizens, and businesses thrive<\/a>\u201d. \u00a0Although Trump’s budget cuts are intended to boost the economy, they will likely have the opposite effect. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

Achenbach, Joel, and Lena H. Sun. “Trump budget seeks huge cuts to science and medical research, disease prevention.” The Washington Post. May 23, 2017. Accessed September 08, 2017. <\/span>https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/to-your-health\/wp\/2017\/05\/22\/trump-budget-seeks-huge-cuts-to-disease-prevention-and-medical-research-departments\/?utm_term=.b9c59d201ec9<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

“Projects.” ARPA-E | Changing What’s Possible. August 23, 2017. Accessed September 08, 2017. <\/span>https:\/\/arpa-e.energy.gov\/<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Science News Staff. “What’s in Trump’s 2018 budget request for science?” Science | AAAS. July 26, 2017. Accessed September 08, 2017. http:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2017\/05\/what-s-trump-s-2018-budget-request-science.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the 2016 Presidential campaign Donald Trump famously made inflammatory claims in which he questioned the indisputable science of climate change. \u00a0 Uninformed and vague statements on the subject of climate change left many to worry about what would happen … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3586,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100731,144457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-risk-and-resilience","category-trump-paris-agreement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/nepalmosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}