- More than 50,000 members of the scientific community have signed an open letter to Congress, urging them to defend scientific institutions against President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
- The letter is primarily a reaction to Project 2025, which sets out the intention to implement several radical changes to several government scientific institutions.
- Those who signed the letter are calling on officials to take preventative measures, particularly during the first 100 days of Trump’s next term, to avoid the damage that would result from a nationwide disavowal of science.
For some time now, it has been difficult to escape the impact of climate change on our world. We have seen increases devastating fireslike those currently sweeping Los Angeles. We have seen horrible hurricanes, like Hurricane Helenethat hit large swaths of the southern United States last September, and the terrible and devastating floods it left in its wake. And just recently, experts made it official: 2024 was the hottest year on record, and the year we exceeded the IPCC climate threshold of 1.5°C.
But unfortunately, these scientific disasters are surrounded by a simmering anti-scientific sentiment among the American people. THE Covid-19 pandemic has caused a significant increase in anti-vaccination discourse. Wellness trends and fad diets continue to proliferate in online spaces, despite being supported by little to no scientific evidence. A broad movement encouraging people to drink raw milk has gained momentum amid a wave of bovine bird flu. Flat Earthers, those who fear the adverse health effects of 5G technology, and other conspiracy theorists continue to try to recruit others to their non-evidence-based and blatantly false beliefs.
And it is in this environment, where trust in experts is at an all-time low, that we now face the start of a second Donald Trump presidential term, in which he has promised to tear down or radically restructure many of the critical scientific institutions that the United States government has established over the years. It is therefore not surprising to learn that a letter signed by more than 50,000 scientists and other science supporters was recently made public, urging Congress to safeguard both the active work of scientists and institutions based on scientific research to keep people as safe as possible.
The letter, released by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group focused on science advocacy, implores members of Congress to take specific steps to protect existing science agencies and the scientists who work in them from potential consequences of successful implementation. of Project 2025, which strongly advocates a radical reorganization and the outright elimination of several government scientific institutions.
“The Trump Administration’s current agenda,” the letter warns, “promises to eviscerate the protections Americans rely on and support: clean air and water; safe food and medicines; products that will not harm us; and protection against extreme weather conditions and other adverse effects of climate change. Without strong federal science, people will suffer and historically marginalized communities will continue to bear the burden of these harms.
These are not statements born of paranoia. Rather, they stem from the well-founded fear sparked among scientists by the suggestions presented in Project 2025. These include dramatic restructurings of agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Disease Control (CDC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Ministry of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ministry of Health and Social Services (HHS), and the Ministry of Agriculture (USDA). These restructurings range from changing the status of jobs within these departments to place them under more direct control of the president, to dividing the departments into smaller, less efficient segments, to eliminating the departments altogether.
And it would start with the many officials appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress. Accordingly, the letter goes on to warn that the most important time to act against the integration of significant anti-scientific sentiment into the US government will be during the first 100 days of Trump’s term, and lays out a “plan for the first 100 days. Pledge for Science” which he implores those responsible to follow.
First, pit anti-science candidates against any federal agency that does not officially agree to follow and/or implement a scientific integrity policy within their agency.
Second, oppose the elimination of federal agencies or their staff, directly or indirectly, including through draconian budget cuts, staff reclassification, or abrupt relocation of agency headquarters, all of which are a transparent and transparent effort. explicitly aimed at decimating scientific expertise and decision-making.
Third, defend safeguards that protect the health and safety of citizens across the United States, especially those burdened by pollution. This includes the nation’s fundamental public health and environmental laws, such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, which are and must continue to be based on the best independent science available.
Scientific fields are highly controversial, and even when consensus is reached, there are often details about discoveries who have been arguing for years. As such, bringing together 50,000 members of the scientific community and agreeing enough on an argument to lend their name to a cause is something to be taken seriously. These experts worry not only about themselves, but also about the danger our entire country (and the world) could be placed in if science were sidelined – or worse, buried.
President-elect Donald Trump and those around him, aligned with the Project 2025 plan, proclaim alignment with traditional values and moral superiority over the “woke elites” of the scientific community. They claim, at least in public, that those who work in scientific fields make us sick, weak, and immoral, and that listening to scientific information sets us back as a nation.
But science itself is not an elite class or an attempt at control – it is a process that has allowed us to understand reality and systematically improve the lives of all humans (and many other living beings) around the world for as long as we’ve been able to do it. use it as a tool. This is not to say that the process can never be used for nefarious purposes: individual projects and experiments can certainly have harmful consequences, and if all technological innovation is the result of science, then the by-products of science Scientific exploration must certainly be treated with caution. But science, as used by the vast majority of scientists and experts around the world, is a tool to protect and improve the world.
The signatories of this letter hope that science will not be shunned by those who run our country. They hope that through actions like this open letterthey can help protect the vital scientific institutions that keep us all safe, as well as the scientists who provide the information that allows them to do so.
“This is a critical time,” the letter concludes, “to show the administration that members of Congress from both parties are united in defending the science that helps protect the communities they represent.” I ask for your support.
Jackie is a writer and editor from Pennsylvania. She particularly enjoys writing about space and physics, and loves sharing the strange wonders of the universe with anyone who will listen. She is watched over in her home office by her two cats.