The Trump administration has undermined the fight against climate change by suffocating facts and science on government websites, according to a federal watchdog group that monitors thousands of government pages for changes.
A report published by the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) on Monday found that language related to climate change has disappeared at an alarming pace since Trump took office in 2016.
Of the pages where “climate change” was stricken, more than half belong to the EPA.
But “unlike the much-discussed White House effort to question climate change findings, website changes go unannounced and are often beyond immediate public recognition,” the report argues.
In 2017, Motherboard reported that the Interior Department had scrubbed its robust climate change page down to a mere 101 words.
Between 2016 and 2018, a page belonging to the United States Geological Survey called “Science Explorer” removed links to a climate change explainer that is now blank.
Climate hubs belonging to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for instance, are well-maintained and reflect the scientific consensus around climate change. »