President-elect Donald Trump is a notorious climate change denier. Some environmentalists saw a glimmer of hope when he told the New York Times that he would keep an “open mind” about the Paris Agreement to address global climate change. But that hope quickly vanished when he appointed Scott Pruitt, yet another climate-denier, as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. And now his transition team is asking the Energy Department to identify scientists who have worked on issues around global warming and the environment.
The Questionnaire
This chilling (pun intended) attack on climate change, global warming, and the environment at large came in the form of a questionnaire. The transition team asked Energy Department officials to provide a list of employees and contractors who have worked on international and domestic climate policy and carbon output regulations. Bloomberg News reports that this includes anyone who:
“…attended United Nations climate meetings, along with those who helped develop the Obama administration’s social cost of carbon metrics, used to estimate and justify the climate benefits of new rules.”
Of course, this sets a terrifying precedent. Energy Department officials are calling it “intrusive” and expressing concern that it will be used to target anyone who helped Obama on developing important policies. Indeed, it isn’t too much of a stretch to speculate that Team Trump wants to get rid of anyone who abides by science.
And the consequences could be disastrous. As Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.)—who also works as a physicist—warns, this targeting
“threatens to undo decades of progress we have made on climate change.”
6) The questions on lab researchers – outside positions, prof society memberships, publications, websites – are extremely concerning: pic.twitter.com/k13LxcKEyz
— Tyler Norris (@tylerhnorris) December 9, 2016
A Witch Hunt
During times of transition, there are always bound to be some disagreements. Often, a new president replaces experts from previous administrations with someone more ideologically inclined toward their own agenda. But this is different, according to Yale University environmental historian Paul Sabin.
“But what seems unusual is singling people out for a very specific substantive issue, and treating their work on that substantive issue as, by default, contaminating or disqualifying.”
Indeed, it appears that the Trump team plans to target and enact punitive measures on scientists in favor of much-needed climate change action. In addition to being disastrous for the well-being of our planet, Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) also observes that following through on these plans
“would be tantamount to an illegal modern-day political witch hunt and would have a profoundly chilling impact on our dedicated federal workforce.”
Needless to say, this is not how a functional government should operate. We now face a moral imperative to resist Trump and his agenda. The health of our very planet quite literally depends on it.
