Dismissal of National Climate Assessment Authors

“The Trump administration has dismissed all the scientists from their work on the nation’s most important climate change report. Refusing to study climate change won’t make it go away – or help us deal with stronger storms, droughts, floods, wildfires and hotter temperatures, or help us stop emitting the pollution that is making it worse. 

“These assessments—requested by Congress by law and published for a quarter of a century—help companies as well as state and local governments prepare for the impacts of climate change. They rely on the impartial knowledge of hundreds of scientists and experts. Without these assessments, we will be less prepared for the growing number of climate disasters we face every year. 

“Pretending we don’t have a problem won’t stop floods like we saw in North Carolina or the fires we saw in Los Angeles. It won’t do anything about skyrocketing insurance costs or lower crop yields of household staples like rice, wheat, corn or coffee, which can increase food prices. From farmers to businesses to people living in the path of natural disasters, we need more information about the changing climate, not less. 

“America has always led on science. Stopping the experts from doing this important work will make us less informed, and make life more expensive, more dangerous, less prosperous and less secure.”

             - Steven Hamburg, Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund