November 25, 2016

Trump brings big trouble to NASA

editor:	Ama Lorenz

There are lots of speculations of the future policies by the new elected US president Donald Trump. But his candidates for the White House crew don’t give lots of hopes neither.

The ink on the Marrakesh’s climate summit resolution is not even dry yet, as Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, hits the Nasa’s Earth science division with „good news“. According to the Guardian Trump wants to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”.

“We see Nasa in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Walker told the Guardian. “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.

Once again, Trump - who describes climate change as a “hoax” and has already vowed to “cancel” last year’s Paris climate agreement – gives a glimpse on how policy in Washington will change under his administration.

It does not need no rocket science nor even “politicized science” to understand that the United States are the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas polluter, after China. Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, said to the Guardian: “Without the support of Nasa, not only the US but the entire world would be taking a hard hit when it comes to understanding the behavior of our climate and the threats posed by human-caused climate change.”