On the eve of a Trump presidency, many Americans are making arrangements to protect themselves, their children and their homes. But there’s also a group who are working to protect something more intangible: knowledge. Scientists across America, and even in Canada, are working to ensure that government-owned data on climate change will still be publicly available. Fearing that Trump’s team may attempt to remove or alter the current data, scientists are working feverishly to save what’s available and ensure it will still be available no matter who is in the White House.
Why are scientists nervous?
While Trump and his team have not come out and said they plan to remove or change current climate change data, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. In fact, given his well known stance on climate change, ranging from “it’s a hoax” to “nobody really knows if it’s real,” it would not be surprising if Trump tried to erase any evidence to the contrary. Recent moves by Trump’s team have increased the fear in scientists, starting with Trump’s decision to appoint many known climate change skeptics to prominent positions in his administration. He followed this up by asking government departments to identify employees who worked on climate change agreements or efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Lastly, one of Trump’s advisers told NASA that they should stop studying climate change and stick to space exploration.
Efforts to save the data
With danger looming, scientists across America got straight to work. Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist in Arizona, tweeted asking scientists which .gov sites they wouldn’t want to lose. He received hundreds of responses and began compiling a database.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have been meeting with local groups and software companies to discuss how they can begin to store important data. Even our neighbors to the north at the University of Toronto have planned a guerilla archiving event. Organizers say they will focus on saving data from the Environmental Protection Agency website that is at high risk for being deleted or altered.
The American Geophysical Union recently brought together 20,000 climate change researchers, many of whom were nervous about the state of their field. Young researchers worried about funding being cut off but found hope in the public support for their important work.
Scientists are not the only ones concerned about the potential for lost data. Support for this project is pouring in. Investors have offered to help fund the project, and database experts have offered assistance and server space. Even lawyers are contributing with pro bono work. One group in particular, the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, stepped up as soon as the election results were announced. They offer one-on-one consultations for scientists who need legal assistance and have put together a booklet for scientists to deal with political harassment and intimidation.
Why we need accurate and ongoing data
Andrew Dessler, a professor at Texas A&M University, explains that continuous data is necessary for understanding long-term trends. He goes on to say that long term trends are the backbone of evidence for climate change. Without them, it would be hard to prove global warming, exactly what Trump’s team seems to want.