Scientists Worried After Trump’s Second Term Has a Major Issue in Its Environmental Data
Donald Trump’s second presidential term has sparked frustration among many American citizens, with critics pointing out how the government is prioritizing short-term interests over long-term goals. For instance, experts have now warned that the erasure of the official environmental data has accelerated at an alarming pace in Trump's second term in the White House when compared to his first presidential term. This has raised concerns among the scientists, activists, and policymakers. The new report has been put together by the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (also known as EDGI).
EDGI, which had also tracked federal environmental websites during Trump's first administration, reported that there are 70% more changes on the website this time. During Trump’s first term, the starting 100 days saw 371 major changes to federal websites, but the same period in his current term logged around 632 changes. One of the major changes was the complete removal of all references to environmental racism from federal pages. The lead author of the report, Izzy Pacenza, said, “The pace and severity of this administration’s attacks on environmental information have been far worse than in the first Trump administration."
Similarly, the cofounder of EDGI, Gretchen Gehrke, also said, "I am surprised by the extent of the removal of information about environmental justice. That level of total erasure we didn't see with any topic under the first-term administration." The government’s climate research portal, globalchange.gov, was also shut down earlier this year. Another widely used website, climate.gov, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) platform, stopped sharing updates after its entire 10-member team was terminated. Gehrke said, “Trustworthy information is critical for a functioning democracy."
She added, “These removals reflect a broad deregulatory agenda by this administration to disavow the intersecting issues of environmental justice and climate change.” As reported by NPR, the co-founder further said, "We really need to protect our information better. Websites are the primary means by which the government communicates with the public." Not just this, on his first day in office, Trump announced the withdrawal of the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty on climate change. Meanwhile, for the former US President, Joe Biden, the climate change issue was a major goal for his presidential term.
For instance, he announced around $2.3 billion to build proper infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather and even natural disasters. As reported by the BBC, in one of his speeches, Biden claimed, "Climate change is literally an existential threat to our nation and the world." He added, "The health of our citizens and our communities is... at stake. So, we have to act." Highlighting why this issue needs to be focused upon, the former US President stated, "Our children and grandchildren are counting on us. If we don't keep [climate change] below 1.5C, we lose it all. We don't get to turn it around."
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