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By Miriam Raftery
Photo, NASA: Consequences of climate change
August 23, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – President Donald Trump’s administration is eliminating its climate change advisory committee, which made recommendations to federal state and local governments as well as businesses based on scientific findings.
NASA’s acting Chief Ben Friedman made the announcement that the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment ended on August 20th.
Weather.com reports that Kim Knowlton, a senior climate scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a member of the committee, says “Shutting down two-way communication between people and scientists is a recipe for disaster.”
The move follows Trump announcing withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, appointment of a climate change denier to head the Environmental Protection Agency, and other actions to sharply roll back gains made under the Obama administration for climate action.
The advisory committee’s members, all volunteers, including representatives from academic research institutions, industry, government and nonprofits.
While a Congressionally mandated climate report is still set to be released, scientists have told CNN that they fear the administration will try to bury its findings by eliminating the committee that analyzed and interpreted such data--effectively suppressing information on climate change from reaching the public in a clear and understandable form, or offering proposed actions to combat accelerating climate change with serious global ramifications.
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