NOAA, THE AGENCY IS BEING DISMANTLED: SOLIDARITY WITH WORKERS
We witness with dismay and concern what is happening in the United States, where the second Trump administration has already issued a series of Executive orders aimed at striking scientific institutions and organizations since its first hours of office, In addition to blocking the development of renewable energies, at the same time increasing oil and gas production.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal agency that deals with the monitoring of seas, oceans and atmosphere was among the first realities to end in the crosshairs, already from the election campaign.
Created in 1970, the Agency has played a vital role in forecasting and warning of hurricanes, storms and tornadoes over time. The NOAA, homing the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center and two tsunami warning centers, also provides crucial information to help American citizens survive weather emergencies. From a climatic point of view, it has also always played an essential role in monitoring the concentration of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly in the center of Mauna Loa. The NOAA data is also used by many countries that cannot afford their own weather monitoring, as well as by researchers around the world to analyze data and promote scientific studies.
For the Trump administration, the “fault” of the Agency would be to be one of the main scientific instruments, a fundamental technical voice always accompanied by relevant data on climate change and its impacts. Smoke in the eyes of an administration voted by the fossil industry.
And the NOAA, after announcements and threats, was the victim last Thursday of a wave of layoffs in the face of scientists, workers and workers, “guilty” – in the eyes of President Trump and Elon Musk – to undermine the interests of the nation.
The guise is to rationalize and contain public spending, but it is quite clear that the reasons are simply to put a muzzle on science, especially climate and meteorological science, firing those who have been working on these issues for decades and with the will to seize and obscure all data, even in historical archives.
The American Meteorological Society has also been on the alert for weeks, warning that “the depth of these changes is not clear, but it seems obvious that the weather and climate activities we know today will not be the same tomorrow”.
As Italian Climate Network, we express our utmost solidarity and closeness to the people involved and to the Agency itself, in the hope that this “hurricane” of denial and opposition to science will soon lose power and calm down.
If today we are aware of climate change, its causes and solutions is thanks to the data that elaborate, for decades, scientific organizations and institutions such as NOAA, even collaborating with similar realities around the world, as the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service or the Japan Meteorological Agency, to name but a few.
Turning off science does not make disappear the climate extremes increasingly affecting our planet, on the contrary: they will become even more dangerous and expensive phenomena, because they must be fought with open arms.
As for prevention, it is clear that if weather warnings are fast and accurate the authorities have a better chance to save lives. Advances in weather forecasting have reduced the number of casualties from weather-related disasters worldwide, although the population has increased and the climate has become more extreme. Without scientific data and research programs such as those of the NOAA, and with the policy of cuts and closures that the US administration is implementing, more people will be at risk of dying due to extreme weather events and related disasters.
The distance expressed to the evidence of the climate sciences is also at the basis of the repeated withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate, perhaps even from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the absence of the USA at the IPCC meeting held in China (AR7 should be published in 2029).
“The drastic downsizing of NOAA is not only an attack on science, but a serious blow to collective security,” comments Serena Giacomin, Scientific Director at Italian Climate Network. “Just to cite a recent example, Hurricane Milton (October 2024), which hit Florida with destructive power in densely populated areas, could have caused hundreds if not thousands of victims. Instead, thanks to the NOAA’s forecasting and alert systems, the professionalism of its experts and the civil protection system, the balance – though tragic – has been reduced to 13. Yet, Hurricane Milton was one of the most devastating events in 2024 and caused record infrastructure damage: estimates range between $50 billion and $60 billion, making it one of the most costly hurricanes in US history.
This also demonstrates how accurate data and skilled professionals are vital to turn science into real-life solutions to save lives. Without adequate monitoring tools and limited data, we will find ourselves increasingly exposed, more vulnerable, and less able to protect our communities today and even more in the future.”
As an association that bases its activism on scientific rigor, in times of darkness we are living in, we want to strongly re-launch the message of science, ensuring that we will continue with renewed vigor to activate to let it reach all the institutions and policy-makers who have the levers to act against climate change. And among these, of course, there can never be the dismantling of scientific bodies and the reduction to silence of their voices.
Cover image: Robert Hyatt, NOAA’s National Weather Service