Part 1 of “The State of the Science 1 Year On,” a report from Eos and AGU
The State of the Science 1 Year On
• Executive Summary
• Climate Change and Energy
• Health and Safety
• The Federal Workforce
• Academia and Research
• Environment
• Concluding Remarks
• Joint Report
• Joint Report PDF
• Tracking Science Policy Decisions and Approaches
In the first year of his second term, President Donald Trump established his administration’s priorities with remarkable alacrity and assurance.
The administration’s priorities for Earth and space sciences have been articulated in myriad ways. It has engaged in a massive effort to deregulate standards and statutes that have long governed the nexus of science and industry, for example—and also engaged in a systematic effort to more tightly regulate academic speech. It has made deep, sincere investments in instrumentation and exploration for fossil fuels—and also eliminated entire, globe-spanning Earth and space science monitoring networks. It codified “Gold Standard Science”—and also removed rigorously reported datasets from public platforms.
The administration’s approach to climate and energy is one marked by a commitment to fossil fuels and a break with policies aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. Such actions, made through legislation, executive orders, and funding allocations, could halve U.S. progress on limiting carbon emissions and erase at least 0.1°C (0.18°F) of international progress in reducing global warming by 2100.
Trump’s climate policies alone could change perceptions of health and safety, with one report associating the administration’s climate policy rollbacks with as many as 1.3 million additional temperature-related deaths in the 80 years following 2035. Staff and funding cuts to federal health, safety, and emergency response programs, most notably the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization present their own dangers.
Even before his inauguration, Trump openly stated his desire to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, and once in office, he almost immediately began cutting teams, programs, and entire cabinet-level departments. In addition to reducing the federal workforce, the administration appointed agency leaders with little experience in government, many with past experience in industries they now regulate.
Scientists outside the federal workforce also faced professional uncertainties as the administration began to reshape academia and higher education. Sweeping policy initiatives, as well as directives targeting specific groups and institutions, reduced funding for the scientific enterprise and limited scientists’ ability to pursue their research.
With the establishment of programs like the Make America Beautiful Again Commission, Trump similarly redefined environmental stewardship in the United States. He has fast-tracked permits for mining, as well as oil and gas exploration; invested in artificial intelligence infrastructure; changed pollution limits and reporting requirements; and curtailed protections for public lands and endangered species.
Agencies, institutions, and individual scientists are still responding to the whirlwind of change unleashed in the past year. Some are adjusting their interactions with the Trump administration, some are negotiating new relationships with organizations inside and outside the federal government, and still others are meeting the administration in the courts.
We hope this report provides a framework to better understand these responses and help inform your own.
Consult Eos’s Science Policy Tracker to stay current with the latest news concerning science and the scientific community in the United States and around the world.
Speak up for Earth and space sciences with AGU’s Science Policy Resource Center:
— Find opportunities and programs
— Contact your legislators
— Coordinate with scientists and stakeholders
—Eos (@eos.org)