Last week, the world’s largest gathering of earth and space scientists crammed into a venue in Washington, but the packed house included Donald Trump, who could make matters worse for science in recent years. There is a sense of anxiety and even fear about the new president.
The annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a major trade show where scientists aim to make progress, with tons of new research presented on everything from seismology to climate science to heliospheric physics. and networking matches, which attracted a record 31,000 attendees this year. their work.
But as graduate students and grizzled researchers huddled around pinboarded presentations in the cavernous exhibition space, one person dominated the murmured conversation. It was Trump. The president-elect has called climate science a “huge fraud,” and during his last term in office he sought to eradicate U.S. science funding, eliminating scientists deemed unfriendly to the interests of the chemical and fossil fuel industries. , and even punished them.
Moreover, the prospect of an ideologically driven Trump administration cutting budgets and laying off federal workers en masse has given the American scientific community a kind of mass anxiety attack. “We all feel like we have a target on our backs,” said one National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist, adding that agency officials are already changing references to the climate crisis to things like “the atmosphere.” It added that it was trying to “change course” by replacing it with a more acceptable terminology. quality”.
“Oh my god, it’s so depressing,” another federal scientist said of the incoming administration. One PhD candidate simply puffed out his cheeks and groaned when asked about finding a job under the Trump administration. “If someone offered me a position in the department right now, I would jump at it,” said one NASA researcher. “It’s difficult, especially for young people. Hopefully we can survive it all.”
The challenges posed by the incoming administration are largely absent from AGU’s official programs, which focus on new research and transform the value of science into society, from dire new warnings about Arctic melting to innovations powered by artificial intelligence. The emphasis was on spreading the word. It’s alive. But the organization’s leaders acknowledged that there are concerns.
“Some of the current signals are making people worried about what will happen to their jobs and lives, not to mention the content of the science,” said AGU president-elect next year. said climate scientist Ben Zaichik. . “You could say people are feeling cornered or under siege, but a lot of people are motivated. At the same time, this is a period of transition. So we have I just don’t know.”
President Trump made changes to hurricane maps with a Sharpie pen, stared at a solar eclipse with naked eyes, and suggested that COVID-19 could be cured by injecting disinfectant. is regarded by many as a catalyst for scientific contrarianism.
This includes the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, who advocates a variety of conspiracy theories about vaccines, wind farms and chemtrails, as the new US secretary of health, and President Trump’s promise this week to abandon his environmental review. It is emphasized by what has happened. “An individual or company that invests $1 billion or more in the United States.”
But American scientists face a broader crisis that extends beyond the president-elect as misinformation swirls and the American public’s trust in scientists erodes. Overall trust in scientists has fallen by 10% since the pandemic, according to a Pew poll, showing a widening partisan divide in how science is viewed. Nearly four in 10 Republicans now say they have little or no trust in scientists to act in the public’s best interests.
“When you get polling data like that, it’s alarming,” acknowledged paleoclimatologist and current AGU president Lisa Graumlich. Gone are the halcyon days of famous 19th century scientists like Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt, and even the church bell-ringing reception of inventor Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine in the 1950s. It seems so. , his public appearances were routinely greeted with applause and handshakes.
By contrast, Anthony Fauci, the face of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, requires 24-hour security as he continues to receive death threats even after leaving office. Climate scientists and meteorologists also face threats and harassment.
“There are conspiracy theories, there are misinformation,” Graumlich said. “Social media engines and algorithms can send people who are not necessarily prone to conspiratorial thinking down a rabbit hole of misinformation.”
Some researchers believe scientists should adapt to this highly partisan environment by sticking to plain facts rather than anything that could be seen as campaigning. . “We’ve been seen as just a partisan lobbying group,” said climate scientist Ken Caldeira.
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“I’d like to see a return to a place where scientists are seen as fact-establishers rather than policy advocates. We need to get back to a situation where we can share a set of facts.”
Others are determined to insist that science guide decision-making, and are appealing to Congress, if not the White House, to ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA’s Earth science operations, which President Trump has previously demanded, has prevented a significant reduction in the
Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist at Arizona State University who has been coming to AGU meetings since 1989, attended this year’s event and said the climate crisis and agricultural practices are causing the world to lose available fresh water. A frightening study revealed that there is.
“We need experts like me to step up and say, ‘I think we should do this,'” said Famiglietti, who has clashed with his family over Trump and even turned off Fox News. spoke. local gym.
“So, I’m not going to chain myself to the wellhead, but I’m going to let the appropriate people in Congress in Washington know about this,” he said. “While some may be tempted to jump off a bridge when thinking about the next few years, I don’t think we need to shut ourselves up or be overly cautious. We must choose our words well and listen to our audience. We need to understand that, but I’m a big proponent of moving forward full speed ahead.”
Even if President Trump followed Florida’s lead and removed all mention of the climate crisis in the federal government, the ignored world would continue to heat up regardless, creating disaster and rising costs for Americans. Scientists say these truths will still exist even if they become politically acceptable again.
“We are calm but undaunted about the future,” Graumlich said. “Facts are still facts and science is still science. This fight is bigger than just a political cycle, and I’ve been doing this for 40 years. We’re not backing down.”
