On Friday, President Donald Trump announced mass layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the world’s premier centers for studying climate science. The announcement was the culmination of Trump’s longstanding campaign against climate science as a field. Over the last several months, Salon spoke with dozens of climate scientists, who warned that the ongoing purge of scientific experts will make it more difficult for the U.S. government to effectively face a growing set of environmental threats.
In just a few short weeks, the Trump administration has completely upended the scientific community, thoroughly dismantling agencies like USAID, the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. At the EPA, Trump has already put more than 1,000 workers on notice that their jobs are in peril, and throughout the 2024 campaign he vowed to completely gut the agency. The president frames his policies as one-part economic stimulant, one-part war against a so-called “deep state” of bureaucrats that undermine his policies. The workers who spoke to Salon believe that Trump is inflicting devastating damage on our society’s ability to protect the rapidly changing environment.
