Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: Trump administration’s rejection of science continues
December 4, 2017
Recent examples of the Trump administration's ongoing resistance to scientists and science include:
According to the November 29, 2017 report, the change in language may be the result of the Trump administration's open hostility to the topic of climate change –
“Earlier this year, Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, and the President's 2018 budget proposal singled out climate change research programs for elimination.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency has been systematically removing references to climate change from its official website. Both the EPA's leader, Scott Pruitt, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry have said they do not accept the scientific consensus that humans are causing the planet to get warmer.”
Further, in August, the
Guardian UK reported on a series of e mails within the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service discouraging federal staff from using the phrase “climate change” at al.
Read the new analysis at
NPR
- The Ecological Society of America reports that the Trump administration has prohibited agency scientists from making public presentations on impacts of climate change on coastal areas and western wildfires.
“
’Stifling ecologists who have valid research to inform management decisions … is unconscionable and serves no one,’ said Katherine McCarter, executive director, Ecological Society of America.” In a
statement in response to one censorship incident.
Read the Ecological Society of America’s full
Statement on recent science censorship
- EPA Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) experts dismissed
The Environmental Protection Agency established the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) in 1996 to provide high quality technical advice, information, and recommendations to the agency on clean air, toxics, and water science. Since January, the Trump administration has dismissed dozens of scientists - and appointed representatives from polluting industries in their stead.
According to
Ecological Society of America Policy News, the BOSC had 68 members early in the year, but by late June it was down to 11. Following the BOSC dismissals, the EPA cancelled all remaining meetings of the committee for 2017.
Among the new appointments to the EPA advisory committees, announced on Nov. 3, are representatives of Phillips 66 Co., Southern Co., and the North Dakota Petroleum Council.
- On November 7, Syria followed the lead of Nicaragua and signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This leaves the U.S. as the sole country that has rejected the global science-based climate pact.
For ideas on ways you can help defend plants and science visit the
Remember to register yourself, your friends and family to VOTE!
