‘Trump Administration Weakening Science in America.’

President Trump said that Global Warming was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese government.  He once tweeted,

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

The Trump administration’s huge cuts to research funding, attempts to stifle the free-flow of information from scientists to the American people, and limiting communication by staff at federal agencies, has academics, scientists and medical professionals wary of Trump since before he was elected.

Scientists who were once sort of  “checked out” of politics, are now running for political office due to President Trump’s and the Conservative’s snub at science and life work of scientists.  Trump and the Conservative faction’s denial of climate change have turned the tide for many scientists. These scientists feel that there is a need for people who understand the consequences of this disregard for science and climate change and are willing to take action.

Although most scientists might view politics as a dirty game, and running for office means they have to abandon their careers in science, they realize that their voices are needed.

314 Action is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting scientists in running for office.  Their mission states:

“We are members of the STEM community, grassroots supporters, and political activists who believe in science. We are committed to electing more STEM candidates to office, advocating for evidence-based policy solutions to issues like climate change, and fighting the Trump administration’s attacks on science. 

They have an action committee that supports pro-choice Democratic women candidates, and VoteVets which backs war veterans.

Kevork Abazajian, associate professor of physics and astronomy at UC Irvine, and 314 Action’s  volunteer state coordinator in California, says that scientists are not unqualified to become our political representatives, they just have to learn how it works as they are not that involved in it.  He says they can shift the temperament in Congress.

“They are middle-of-the-road. They are not ideological,” he said. “They go where the data takes them.”

If the U.S. President, and key members of Congress keep denying climate change in the face of huge evidence to the contrary, there can be no good new policies which could help solve the climate crisis.

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