Trump’s Censorship of Science – Santa Barbara Independent

Climate Change Webpage Disappears from EPA, BeingUpdated

By Rowena Eng, Shelby Oliver, and Gokce Sencan

Last month, the EPA quietly removed all climate change-related information from its website under orders of new director Scott Pruitt. Though a snapshot links to the old webpage at an archive outside the Environmental Protection Agency, a statement also indicates the agency is updating language at EPA.gov. The decision to remove climate change information is not only scientifically unethical, its also censorship, a form of political coercion through the control of publicly available knowledge. Trump may think these actions are a show of power, but censorship instances like this one will discredit his administrations competence, if it hasnt already, in all fields ofgovernance.

Obstruction of science isnt new. Under President George W. Bush, federal agencies were advised against using the terms global warming or climate change in governmental reports. Even more restrictive practices happened in Canada until Justin Trudeau took office; under the previous prime minister Stephen Harper, governmental policies obfuscated communication between federal scientists and the media. With President Trump, it wouldnt be far-fetched to expect his fling with censorship to extend beyond climatechange.

EPA.gov

The current EPA climate changepage

In an economic order now dominated by aggressive industries, the government must maintain an impartial stance between business interests and science. Our government should be protecting us when businesses attempt to profit at the expense of public health. Tobacco is one example of a big industrys interests clashing with the publics. Climate change is no different, only this time we are faced with a government that openly sides with another big industry oil.

Trumps loyalty lies with his familys and allies businesses, so any science that compromises the bottom line of those industries is at risk. It may involve direct censorship, like the removal of climate change information from EPAs website. Or it may involve stealthier methods, such as the defunding of programs like PBS and NPR. This suppression of science will not only delay our nations response to the urgent threats of climate change, but it will also enable Trumps administration to stack the deck against any science that does not serve itsinterests.

Censoring science can cause a balloon effect: Oppression of one part of the balloon forces pressure to spill over into another area of less resistance. This phenomenon is exemplified by the US war on drugs in South America during the late 1980s; the crackdown on drugs in one South American country merely intensified production in another, rendering the drug war a futile effort. Similarly, Trump underestimating the value of scientific information could result in unforeseen and undesirable outcomes. Major businesses in the U.S., from auto industries to real estate companies, depend on information from the EPA. Even other countries rely on our governments scientific data to predict and plan for natural disasters and agricultural risks. Trumps suppression of scientific data could compromise the operations of both domestic and internationalentities.

EPA.gov

EPA kept a snapshot of the deleted page, stating, This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to http://www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2017. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may notwork.

As for international relations, the U.S. government as the self-proclaimed leader of the free world has a moral responsibility to keep its science publicly available. Despite Trumps denial of climate change, the closest allies of the U.S.(e.g., Canada, Europe) have been tackling the issue for over a decade; their scientists rely on data provided by the EPA, NASA, and other U.S. scientific research bodies. Removal of EPAs climate change data not only undermines the credibility of Trumps administration in the public eye, it also obstructs scientific activities and weakens the U.S. as the pioneer of global scientificadvancement.

The federal government also has an obligation to objectively disclose scientific research to its tax-paying citizens. The science gives us transparency into how the government makes (or should make) informed policies. If the public cant see the science for themselves, they wont be able to trust the governments decision-making. With a plummeting approval rating of 39 percent in addition to the growing suspicion of Trumps collusion with Russia, this concealment of science only further weakens hiscredibility.

As long as Trumps scandals continue, our distrust in his administration will only intensify. His favoritism for certain businesses and cherry-picking of scientific information will not go unnoticed. And while the administration is busy denying climate change to benefit Trumps friends in the fossil fuel industry, these actions will bring irreparable damage to the hard-earned reputation of many institutions, such as the EPA, and damage the function of the U.S. government in the longrun.

Rowena Eng, Shelby Oliver, and Gokce Sencan are masters degree candidates at UC Santa Barbaras Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. Engs specialization at Bren is Corporate Environmental Management, Olivers is Coastal and Marine Resource Management, and Sencans Economics and Politics of the Environment. All three also pursue a focus in Strategic Environmental Communications andMedia.

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Trump's Censorship of Science - Santa Barbara Independent