Silencing Climate Whistle-Blowers
The Struggle of Climate Scientists Under Political Pressure
Virginia Burkett is the Chief Scientist for Climate and Land Use Change at the United States Geological Survey (USGS). In 2017, she served as the USGS Associate Director for Climate and Land Use Change. After Trump took office in January 2017, Burkett repeatedly opposed actions by his administration that she saw as harmful, such as the dismantling of climate research programmes, reducing science funding, and attempting to water down an influential government report on climate action.
Due to her opposition, Burkett was demoted from her leadership position and removed from a prominent White House panel overseeing the government’s main, multiagency climate programme. Although she was promoted once again by President Biden, she filed a whistle-blower complaint, calling for an investigation into what she describes as “abuse of authority and gross mismanagement” during the Trump administration. She alleges that the administration dismantled climate research programmes and calls for institutional reforms to protect scientists from retaliation.
Burkett is not the only scientist that the Trump administration tried to silence In an article by The Guardian, six other whistleblowers and former government scientists describe how the Trump administration sought to marginalise them. The administration froze greenhouse gas standards for vehicles, downplayed the impact of climate change on coastal parks, and prohibited scientists from serving on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) panels due to perceived conflict of interest while allowing and even increasing the number of industry representatives.
At the time, the EPA’s administrator was Scott Pruitt[1]. He often expressed doubt about the extent to which human activities contribute to global warming. In a 2018 interview with KSNV-TV in Las Vegas, Pruitt questioned the role of carbon dioxide levels driven higher by human pollution in climate change, and whether climate change is an ‘existential threat’.
“We know humans have most flourished during times of what? Warming trends,” Pruitt said. “I think there are assumptions made that because the climate is warming, that that necessarily is a bad thing. Do we really know what the ideal surface temperature should be in the year 2100, in the year 2018? That is fairly arrogant for us to think we know exactly what it should be in 2100.” (Bacon, 2018)
Hansen vs The State
This is not even the first time that politicians have tried to silence climate scientists. In 2004, James Hansen, one of the leading climate scientists, whose 1988 testimony before a US Senate committee first brought the threat of global warming to the world’s attention, highlighted the urgency of climate change in a public talk at the University of Iowa. A year later, in his keynote talk at the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) 2005 meeting, Hansen suggested that there was maybe only another 10-year window of opportunity to tackle rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels before the planet would be committed to a ‘dangerous’ anthropogenic climate change. He also highlighted the role of special interests, particularly from the fossil fuel industry, in spreading misinformation and hindering effective climate action.
“There is little merit in casting blame for inaction unless it helps point toward a solution. It seems to me that special interests have been a roadblock, wielding undue influence over policymakers. The special interests seek to maintain short-term profits with little regard to either the long-term impact on the planet that will be inherited by our children and grandchildren or the long-term economic well-being of our country. The public, if well-informed, has the ability to override the influence of special interests, and the public has shown that they feel a stewardship toward the Earth and all of its inhabitants. Scientists can play a useful role if they help communicate the climate change story to the public in a credible understandable fashion”
Hansen’s speech at the AGU “was very well received by the scientists present and garnered some press in the following days.” This attention, however, resulted in calls from the White House (George W. Bush administration) to NASA headquarters, and Hansen was informed that he could not give any talks or speak with the media without prior explicit approval by NASA Headquarters. Hansen told The New York Times about the restrictions and NASA was forced to end the censorship. But there were consequences. NASA’s first line of mission, "to understand and protect the home planet," which justified Hansen’s and other climate scientists’ work, was deleted, never to appear again. [2].
NASA officials told The New York Times that the elimination of the phrase that was used by Hansen was "pure coincidence." The agency's mission has become "to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research," to align with President George W. Bush's vision of prioritizing human spaceflight to the Moon and Mars. )
Bush's administration had ambitious plans for space exploration, such as the development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), later renamed Orion, which remains under testing. They also hoped to establish a human presence on the Moon as a stepping stone for further exploration of Mars. (President Bush Announces New Vision for Space Exploration Program, 2004) Despite these grand aspirations, progress on space exploration during Bush's presidency was hindered by budgetary limitations and shifting priorities, mainly due to the Iraq War, whose cost exceeded $1 trillion, straining the federal budget.
Historically, NASA’s mission included scientific research devoted to better understanding planet Earth. Therefore, the elimination of the first line of the agency’s mission caused concern among scientists, who feared it might signal a shift in funding away from Earth sciences and climate change research toward space exploration initiatives. The change also raised a lot of questions among policymakers. In a letter sent to NASA Administrator Dr. Michael D. Griffin, senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) voiced their concerns about the mission statement changes.
When President Barack Obama took office, NASA's priorities shifted again. The Constellation programme, aimed at returning humans to the Moon, was cancelled due to technical difficulties, delays, and budget overruns. The 2008 global economic crisis certainly played a role, as it put significant pressure on government budgets. Obama redirected NASA's goals towards sending astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 (unlikely to be met) and to Mars in the 2030s (yet to be determined). In addition, he increased NASA’s budget for Earth science missions to monitor climate change, develop climate models, and provide essential data for understanding and mitigating climate impacts.
“We will increase Earth-based observation to improve our understanding of our climate and our world—science that will garner tangible benefits, helping us to protect our environment for future generations.” (President Obama’s Remarks on the Space Program, 2010)
This highlights the significant vulnerability of scientists and research, particularly regarding climate change, to political influences. Ideologies and special interests often prioritize short-term profits, disregarding the long-term consequences for our planet. Humans are now shaping the planet from local to global scale. While we are shaping the planet, we are also fundamentally dependent on its capacity to supply us with the basics of food, water, and vital ecosystem services, like regulating the climate. Ignoring these needs threatens the future environment that will be inherited by our children and grandchildren.
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Sources:
Bacon, J. (2018, February). Scientists rebuff EPA chief's claim that global warming may be good. Retrieved from USA Today News: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/02/08/epa-chief-scott-pruitt-global-warming-may-good-thing/318850002/
Earth dropped from NASA mission statement. (2006, July 24). phys.og. doi: https://phys.org/news/2006-07-earth-nasa-mission-statement.html
Hansen, J. (2012, March 12). James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change. TED Talk.
Hansen, J. E. (2005, December 6). Is There Still Time to Avoid Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference’ with Global Climate? Retrieved from https://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2005/Keeling_20051206.pdf
Milman, O. (2019, September 19). The silenced: Meet the climate whistleblowers muzzled by Trump. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/17/whistleblowers-scientists-climate-crisis-trump-administration
President Bush Announces New Vision for Space Exploration Program. (2004, January). Retrieved from George W. Bush White House Archives: https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040114-3.html
President Obama’s Remarks on the Space Program. (2010, April 15). The New York Times. Retrieved July 29, 2024, from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/science/space/16nasa_text.html
Revkin, A. C. (2006, July 22). NASA’s Goals Delete Mention of Home Planet. The New York Times. doi:https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/science/22nasa.html
Schmidt, G. (2006, January 29). Hansen in the New York Times. Retrieved from Real Climate : https://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/01/hansen-in-the-new-york-times/
Senators Collins and Lieberman Raise Concerns about Changes to NASA Mission Statement . (2006, August 4 ). Retrieved from Space News: https://spacenews.com/senators-collins-and-lieberman-raise-concerns-about-changes-to-nasa-mission-statement/
Tollefson, J. (2024, July 24). Exclusive: the Trump administration demoted this climate scientist — now she wants reform. Nature. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02213-y
Footnotes:
[1] Scott Pruitt served as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from February 17, 2017, to July 6, 2018.
[2] The current NASA mission statement is “NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.”