While NASA and NOAA warn of climate crisis, they resist last-minute denial by Trump appointers

While NASA and NOAA warn of climate crisis, they resist last-minute denial by Trump appointers

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But at this point, says NASA climate scientist Kate Marvel, rankings are worthless. It’s all about the terrible trend towards a level of global overheating that is impossible to control.

“What really matters, and what I think is really important and what really matters, is that the seven warmest years recorded have been the last seven years,” Marvel told CNN.

Her work is part of a worldwide consensus among scientists – from the Met Office in the UK, the Copernicus Climate Change Service in Europe, Berkeley Earth and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – that the man – made fever of the planet is no sign of breaking does not show and that land, sea and air may be warming faster.

The seven-year period “almost indicates an acceleration in the rate of warming we are seeing worldwide,” Russ Vose, head of climate monitoring at NOAA, told CNN. “Every decade has been warmer for the past four or five decades than the decade that preceded it.”

If the trend continues, it means that for the rest of our lives it was also the coldest period of seven years, if not the rest of human history. And the scientists who wrote these latest reports all agree.

Mankind will determine how bad it goes.

“It’s not the sun. It’s not a natural climate variable. It’s human action, specifically human emissions of greenhouse gases, dioxide and methane,” Marvel said emphatically. “I’m a scientist. I hang out with scientists all the time. We do not agree on anything. Scientists will fight over absolutely everything. The fact that scientists agree that it is human activities that are causing climate change, we have seen, it’s really, really, very meaningful. ‘

Trump recommends using climate disinformation

But even as experts completed their annual global climate assessments, climate skeptics who appointed President Donald Trump to top scientific positions at NOAA in September last year, and later temporarily appointed to the White House of Science and Technology (OSTP) office, have controversial pseudoscience published. online.

“The Office of Science and Technology Policy would like to bring you these assignments to advance your understanding of climate change by learning from these learned scholars,” reads the introduction written by one of the Trump appointments, David Legates, a professor at the University of Delaware supporting the climate-denying Heartland Institute.

But the essays, now known as the “Climate Change Kites,” were written by longtime opponents and filled with theories put forward by the peer-reviewed work of scientists in U.S. agencies, and even the public recognition by major oil companies, that the climate crisis is, is extracted. caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

Without permission, Legates and his co-appointment, Ryan Maue, posted the leaflets on a website linked to leading climate skeptic Willie Soon and they bore the seal of the president’s executive office.

OSTP director Kelvin Droegemeier “was furious about the material not shared or approved by OSTP leadership,” spokeswoman Kristina Baum said in an email to the Washington Post. “He first took note of the documents when he was contacted by the press. As a result, Dr. Droegemeier acted quickly and the responsible persons were relieved of their duties at OSTP.”

Legates and Maue have completed their term in the White House this week and are returning to NOAA, where the incident is currently being reviewed, according to the Washington Post. CNN reached out to Legates and Maue for comment, but received no response.

“I have known David Legates before in my graduate school, but I have not seen him in a long time and cannot explain the actions he and others have taken in this case,” Vose told CNN. “I can not speak for the whole NOAA, but I can tell you that where we are, we are morally high,” he said. ‘I’ve been through all four administrations. I served everyone happily. I look forward to serving the next administration. ‘

Scientist hoping for less politics, more policy

Despite the politicization of science under Trump, Vose compares the role of NOAA scientists to Department of Labor statisticians responsible for job reports: neutral dispensers of accurate numbers.

“Fortunately, we do our job independently without interference,” he said. “And please hold us accountable if you ever feel it has happened.”

“I hope the long-term consequences will be almost nil,” Marvel said. “I think the fact that this came out well and most people said, ‘Well, that’s a little silly,’ and then moving on, gives me a lot of hope. ‘

With an incoming Joe Biden government committed to reversing the course on U.S. climate activity, the conversation around this most difficult topic is likely to change. The question is how soon before debate on policy and action goes.

“My whole goal is to become completely irrelevant to the climate talk,” Marvel said. “I do not want scientists to debate whether or not this is happening or who is responsible for it. I think we have moved beyond that. I think we need to fight a much better battle. We need to work on policy. “We need to discuss the morality of climate change. None of this is my specific area of ​​expertise. But I think we’re getting there.”

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