‘Imposing ignorance’: U.S. climate science under siege

The United States has been waging a campaign against climate science, canceling a key report on the Arctic's rapidly changing state and removing a chapter on global warming from a reference manual for judges. The administration, under President Donald Trump's second term, has been cutting budgets and conducting mass layoffs, intensifying its assault on climate science as the world's oceans and land masses endure record-breaking heat.

The Arctic Report Card, which found the polar region had its hottest year since records began, was canceled this year, with the report highlighting the alarming impacts of melting glaciers, sea ice, greening landscapes, and disruptions to global weather patterns. Rick Spinrad, a former NOAA administrator, warned that the administration was "imposing ignorance on the system in the hopes that that will address the challenges that are real associated with climate change."

The Arctic is warming several times faster than the global average, a phenomenon known as "Arctic amplification," which affects distant regions as well, such as Europe's milder winters. The administration's actions are part of a broader effort to undermine climate science, following last week's removal of a chapter on climate science from the National Academy of Sciences' website for judges.

This comes after the Trump administration rescinded the "endangerment finding" that linked greenhouse gas pollution to human health risks, eliminating federal vehicle emissions standards. Climate scientists and advocates argue that these actions aim to sow doubt and confusion about the scientific consensus on climate change, despite overwhelming evidence of its impacts.