Cancelled Arctic Report Card latest casualty in Trump's war on climate science
A BENCHMARK United States report on the fast-changing state of the Arctic has been cancelled.
The United States government has scrapped the annual Arctic Report Card, a benchmark report on the rapidly changing Arctic region, in what experts view as part of President Donald Trump's war on climate science. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which has published the report annually since 2006, cited issues with coordination for the cancellation, but has not ruled out future editions.
The Arctic is an indicator of global warming, warming at a rate two to three times the global average, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. The loss of sea ice is causing havoc on the North Atlantic's circulation system, which moderates Europe's winters. This move follows other recent actions by the Trump administration, including the removal of a chapter on climate science from a manual for judges, accused by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of being "fraudulent, biased and misleading."
The NAS is conducting an independent review, citing "considerable scrutiny." These actions are part of a broader effort to undermine climate science, with the administration also rescinding the 2009 endangerment finding that linked greenhouse gas pollution to human health risks. Scientists warn that these steps are misguided and counterproductive, as the evidence of climate change becomes increasingly apparent with extreme weather events like heat domes and wildfires.
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