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Trump to scrap NASA climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’

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You've seen people unironically suggest we just get a new planet to live on as the better of the two options? lol / sad

It doesn't even make sense? if we can't maintain this planet why bother finding a new one, only to do the exact same thing there? ughhhhhhhhhhh
 

Calabi

Member
You have to admit, it IS a golden time to start looking for terraformable planets.

To bad that will likely be extremely difficult to nigh on impossible, and if it is possible it wont be pleasant(like living in a submarine your whole life) and any small event could destroy that colony.

This planet "is" our only best hope for a long term future. I mean "was".
 

Hexa

Member
Yes, because it's bullshit. No other agencies can launch or maintain satellites, which are necessary to study the effects of climate change. NASAs earth-science division is one of the jewels of NASA and has saved countless lives both in its early warning systems for natural disasters, and in its drought prediction systems for farmers. This is a disaster for anyone who actually understands what NASA does in this role and how difficult it would be to replicate their expertise.

There is no one else to take over, particularly since they're getting ready to gut other climate agencies.

I am just going to point out that this is false, and that most environment related satellites are managed by NESDIS which is under NOAA which is under the Department of Commerce.
Edit: I have a personal stake in this kind of so this is me just getting annoyed with how no one apparently knows what DoC does and not me trying to make a point about how this is a good thing. Sorry if its somewhat random.
 

Steejee

Member
Going to have to hold out a little hope the people NASA is sending to handle the Trump transition can find some way to get him to flop on that. Maybe they need to play to his vanity somehow ("Everyone will think you're backwards, including NK").

After all, Pandora's box is opened, need to hold onto that hope for dear life...
 

aeolist

Banned
I am just going to point out that this is false, and that most environment related satellites are managed by NESDIS which is under NOAA which is under the Department of Commerce.

well then it's a good thing his leading pick for commerce secretary is a billionaire coal industry magnate
 

qcf x2

Member
Glad that we will be focusing on deep space exploration, though of course the specter of climate change denial is horrifying. The quotes in the article do give me some hope, NASA doesn't have to be the only ones who focus on climate change and scientific research/findings ARE incredibly politicized.
 

aeolist

Banned
Glad that we will be focusing on deep space exploration, though of course the specter of climate change denial is horrifying. The quotes in the article do give me some hope, NASA doesn't have to be the only ones who focus on climate change and scientific research/findings ARE incredibly politicized.

NASA's budget is a tiny sliver of federal expenditures every year, they could and should easily increase both deep space missions and earth science without breaking the bank.

and look up any reputable independent climate scientist's opinion of NASA before you start calling their research politicized.
 
In my opinion, we(reasonable people) already know that the planet is in trouble and by and large, it's our fault(humans). So focus should now be on what we can do to make things right.
 

besada

Banned
I am just going to point out that this is false, and that most environment related satellites are managed by NESDIS which is under NOAA which is under the Department of Commerce.
Edit: I work for DoC so this is more me just getting annoyed with how no one apparently knows what we do than trying to make a point about how this is a good thing.

While NESDIS does run some of its own satellites, NASA earth science runs more, and the ones NESDIS runs are focused on current weather. NESDIS isn't tracking water salinity, it doesn't run Aqua which is studying the water cycle in toto, and it isn't running the Landsat satellites. More to the point, NESDIS uses NASA personnel and launch facilities for their satellites, and can't continue to launch them without that help.

Most of NESDIS's satellites are actually NASA/NESDIS collaborations, like GOES-R, which wouldn't exist without NASAs earth science group and is run out of Goddard. I'm not trying to shit on NESDIS, but they have satellites to manage because of the collaboration with NASA. Removal of that upstream money will have a profound effect on NESDIS, as well.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
Might as well build a deep space multi-generational "boat" anyway now, this place's fucked. Was the economical model resulting in all that money going to 1% of the population worth it?
 
Glad that we will be focusing on deep space exploration, though of course the specter of climate change denial is horrifying. The quotes in the article do give me some hope, NASA doesn't have to be the only ones who focus on climate change and scientific research/findings ARE incredibly politicized.


I have yet to stumble across a climate scientist that agrees with this.
 
Wouldn't farmers fearful of stuff like crop blights and drought be kinda pissed off about this?

Without good climatological forecasting, readings and warnings, wouldn't crop farmers be totally in the dark on their production futures?
 
If tomorrow, I published an empirical article about how "religion improves people's well-being and income and sex appeal" by surveying 100 Christians, conservatives would be all "Science is so great! Science is finally telling it how it is!"

But mountains of robust science that flies in the face of your corporate interests? "Science is so politicized! We just need more good science!"

Seriously, go fuck yourselves, you hypocrites.
 
For everyone who is freaking out, did you read this portion:
“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."

Sounds like he wants NASA focused on space exploration, and a different agency focused on earth-centric science. Not sure what agency that would be, however.
 
For everyone who is freaking out, did you read this portion:


Sounds like he wants NASA focused on space exploration, and a different agency focused on earth-centric science. Not sure what agency that would be, however.

That last part is a big part of the issue here. Unless you create some other agency or delegate another with hefty satellite capabilities no other agency exists to do this and supply climate data to other organizations.
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
Here's my thing. It's not like the rest of the planet is going to wait around for the US to pull it's head out of it's ass.

300 million people don't mean a bit compared to the other 7 billion.

This doesn't mean the end of the world. It just means the end of the US being respected by the rest of the world when it comes to science. Still disastrous for the US, but ultimately this will probably be a blip on the radar in world history as China or India or the EU step up and do this role instead.

That being said, it's going to be a hard sell to get the rest of the world to invest in the American economy when the American economy doesn't even have the backing of it's own government on the most basic scientific principles.
 

BobLoblaw

Banned
Fuck this guy. Never in my life have I been so eager to vote again. I'm gonna donate and volunteer the shit out of the next election.
 

RainForce

Banned
Explain to me what's the worst thing that can come out of this like I'm an idiot. Is it basically if some major, catastrophic change in the climate occurs, we won't know about it?
 

Ac30

Member
That last part is a big part of the issue here. Unless you create some other agency or delegate another with hefty satellite capabilities no other agency exists to do this and supply climate data to other organizations.

It's so obvious. If we can't monitor it, it doesn't exist. Trump solving climate change!
 
For everyone who is freaking out, did you read this portion:


Sounds like he wants NASA focused on space exploration, and a different agency focused on earth-centric science. Not sure what agency that would be, however.

Did you also see the part where they're spinning NASA's efforts as "politicized science"?

I wouldn't be surprised at all if this "we just want to give it to another agency" is little more than a rhetorical defense. They could easily just hand off that responsibility to a conservative-oriented agency that does shit-all with its budget and pushes "climate change isn't all that bad guys, we swear" propaganda.
 

jelly

Member
Ignorance is bliss and rolling in money. The rest of us, we'll at least we can bash their rich doors down when the apocalypse happens.
 

TyrantII

Member
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astr...ion_will_eliminate_nasa_climate_research.html

Trump and his team want to stop NASA from studying climate change. From the article:

Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding in favor of exploration of deep space, with the president-elect having set a goal during the campaign to explore the entire solar system by the end of the century.
This confirms essentially the same comments made by Walker in late October at a Federal Aviation Administration committee meeting.

...

Actions speak louder than words, and his actions are clear.

If this slashing of NASA Earth science comes to pass, it will be a disaster for humanity. This is no exaggeration: NASA is the leading agency in studying the effects of global warming on the planet, in measuring the changes in our atmosphere, our oceans, the weather, and yes, the climate as temperatures increase. They have a fleet of spacecraft observing the Earth, and plans for more to better understand our environment. That’s all on the chopping block now.

Walker also said, “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission” is particularly galling. The best agency for that would be the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which for the past two years has been under relentless attack by the GOP in the form of Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. He has done everything he can to tie NOAA in knots and prevent them from studying global warming, including subpoenaing ridiculous amounts of information and intimidating its administrator, the astronaut and national hero Kathryn Sullivan.

Lamar Smith is the modern day Joseph McCarthy. But we’re still waiting for his at long last sense of decency.

So Walker saying Earth science is better done at NOAA is a lot of malarkey. Worse, NOAA relies heavily on NASA for mission support, including launching satellites.
 

Skinpop

Member
Explain to me what's the worst thing that can come out of this like I'm an idiot. Is it basically if some major, catastrophic change in the climate occurs, we won't know about it?
you see this spike at the right here:
Marcott.png
whenever you see spikes like this, in engineering, health care or whatever.. you know that things are gonna get shitty.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
If I were working at NASA, I'd be already trying to convince fellow scientists to do a protest. Just stop everything the Agency is doing and fucking make this guy to keep the program up.

God, fuck this guy. I can't believe the whole world is going to be dragged because of this.

At least we're not going to keep hearing YAS QUEEN, am i rite /s
 

Calabi

Member
The interesting thing is will everyone just stand by and let it happen. Why yes probably they will.

Not sure a species when told to join them in jumping off a cliff, does so, deserves to exist. I mean there's being individually stupid, but everyone joining in with that stupidity, just because, its hard to see how that species has a long term future.
 

Joe

Member
Is the extent of the effects of this going to be an unfortunate setback or a disaster?

Do American scientists absolutely rely on NASA climate research? What about scientists around the world?
 

a916

Member
I hope people in America stand against this, but most likely won't.

Seriously? Who was demanding this? Good lord...
 

Xe4

Banned
Yes, because it's bullshit. No other agencies can launch or maintain satellites, which are necessary to study the effects of climate change. NASAs earth-science division is one of the jewels of NASA and has saved countless lives both in its early warning systems for natural disasters, and in its drought prediction systems for farmers. This is a disaster for anyone who actually understands what NASA does in this role and how difficult it would be to replicate their expertise.

There is no one else to take over, particularly since they're getting ready to gut other climate agencies.

While NESDIS does run some of its own satellites, NASA earth science runs more, and the ones NESDIS runs are focused on current weather. NESDIS isn't tracking water salinity, it doesn't run Aqua which is studying the water cycle in toto, and it isn't running the Landsat satellites. More to the point, NESDIS uses NASA personnel and launch facilities for their satellites, and can't continue to launch them without that help.

Most of NESDIS's satellites are actually NASA/NESDIS collaborations, like GOES-R, which wouldn't exist without NASAs earth science group and is run out of Goddard. I'm not trying to shit on NESDIS, but they have satellites to manage because of the collaboration with NASA. Removal of that upstream money will have a profound effect on NESDIS, as well.
Thank you for this. Most people don't realize how important NASA's earth observing system is. It coveres dozens of satellites each created for a distinct purpose of observing different atmospheric, oceanic and geologic systems of the earth.

Most people imagine NASA ad obly doing space stuff, but that's not true. In fact NASA's Earth observations directly benifit space reasearch and visa versa. Many of the same remote sensing teqniqes are used, and studying the earth can tell us a lot about the universal physics that govern the stars as well.

Not that Trump cares, of course.
 

mike6467

Member
You know, on second thought...if we're going to keep shitting on the environment, why even bother tracking it? In reality this is an ingenious reallocation of resources. What good is knowing the state of the earth if we're not going to change anything regardless of the resulting information? Some really forward thinking here, great move Don!
/s
 
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