gallaudet
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/potential-for-sudden-and-extreme-change-new-climate-report-warns-a-feedback-loop-may-already-be-underway/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/potential-for-sudden-and-extreme-change-new-climate-report-warns-a-feedback-loop-may-already-be-underway/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>‘Potential for sudden and extreme change’: New climate report warns a feedback loop ‘may already be underway’</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams<b> December 11, 2019</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In addition to warning that “the feedback to accelerating climate change may already be underway,” the U.S. government’s latest report on conditions in the Arctic reveals that temperatures in the region are persistently warming, leading to land and sea ice melting, permafrost thawing, species being threatened with extinction, and putting Native communities at risk.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday published its 14th annual Arctic Report Card (pdf), which warns that “the Arctic marine ecosystem and the communities that depend upon it continue to experience unprecedented changes as a result of warming air temperatures, declining sea ice, and warming waters.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The new NOAA report “draws particular attention to the Bering Sea region, where declining winter sea ice exemplifies the potential for sudden and extreme change,” and features commentary from Indigenous elders.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Bering Sea, in particular, has experienced unprecedented declines in sea ice over the last two years, with resulting changes in algae growth to include observations of the<b> presence of harmful algal blooms,</b>” Clark University polar scientist Karen Frey, lead author of one of the report’s chapters, said in a statement.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zack Labe</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@ZLabe</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The annual @NOAA Arctic Report Card is available today for 2019. It discusses recent changes in the Arctic, extreme events, and broad implications for the Earth system.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">+ Report: https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2019 …</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">+ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlhU4vrE3e4&feature=emb_title …</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">+ Summary/News: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/10/arctic-may-have-crossed-key-threshold-emitting-billions-tons-carbon-into-air-long-dreaded-climate-feedback/ …</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Infographic highlighting 2019's extreme events within the Arctic</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Erich Osterberg, a Dartmouth College professor who has studied glaciers, told PBS NewsHour that “I think the headline from this report is that the Arctic is in real trouble. If this were an annual health check-up, I think we’d have to say that the Arctic is chronically sick and getting worse. 2019 was a particularly bad year for the Arctic.”</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Osterberg, who did not contribute to the report, highlighted that this year saw th<b>e second-warmest average annual land surface air temperature on record, which led to significant sea ice loss in the Arctic Ocean and melting of glaciers on Greenland—both of which cause sea level rise.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Major findings include observations about rising temperatures, the Greenland Ice Sheet, North American Arctic snow cover, Tundra greening,<b> thawing permafrost, sea ice extent, thickness of sea ice, ocean primary productivity, wildlife population declines, winter sea ice, and northerly shifts in the distribution of fish species.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andrew Freedman</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@afreedma</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is a BIG deal, and a finding that's a bit buried in the @noaa Arctic Report Card out today. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/10/arctic-may-have-crossed-key-threshold-emitting-billions-tons-carbon-into-air-long-dreaded-climate-feedback/ …</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The Arctic may have crossed key threshold, emitting billions of tons of carbon into the air, in a..</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new federal report on the Arctic finds the region is in the midst of drastic and sudden changes as a result of human-caused warming.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">washingtonpost.com</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NOAA’s new report is made up of 12 essays written by an international team of 81 researchers from 12 countries. An independent peer review was organized by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program of the Arctic Council.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s a really sobering report, but I have to say it’s not a very surprising report,” said Osterberg, “because this is a continuation of the trends that we’ve been seeing happening in the Arctic for quite a few decades now as climate change has gotten worse.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alongside the report, NOAA published a short video which explains that “unprecedented warming and exceptionally low levels of sea ice are imposing dramatic, rapid, and disruptive change on marine ecosystems in the far north,” including a “<b>cascade of impacts on the marine food web.”</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch:</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Changing growing conditions, including warmer summers, decreasing snow cover, and permafrost instability lead to alterations in the vegetation of the Arctive landscape. This can strongly affect habitat for caribou, birds, and other wildlife,<b> putting further pressure on northern ecosystems and communities</b>,” the video details. “Indigenous communities along the Bering Sea are on the front lines of climate change. As sea ice disappears, so does hunting access to seals, whales, whales, and other marine life.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bering Sea Elders Group executive director Mellisa Johnson, who edited a chapter of NOAA’s report, spoke with InsideClimate News about dead or dying salmon increasingly washing up on the shores over the past few years. She explained that “the seals, they don’t want to eat those types of fish. They know they’re unhealthy for consumption. So then they don’t have enough fat reserves to last them.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The chapter that Johnson edited, which offers perspective from Indigenous voices, reads in part:</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Our resilience as Indigenous Peoples comes from our close proximity to the food resources that we depend on</b>. In a warming Arctic, access to our subsistence foods is shrinking and becoming more hazardous to hunt and fish. At the same time, thawing permafrost and more frequent and higher storm surges increasingly threaten our homes, schools, airports, and utilities. Our environment has changed, but we remain vigilant. By adapting as we always have, we continue to hunt, fish, and harvest from the ocean and land. But, we fear for our young people; we worry that they will grow without the same foods and places that we have known throughout our lives. Maintaining what we inherited from our elders and thinking about our future generations, we offer this report as a glimpse into what we are observing and experiencing at the locations of our eight communities in the Bering Sea region of Alaska.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson, whose group represents 38 regional communities, emphasized in her comments to InsideClimate News the need for action to address the climate impacts in the region. “The Bering Sea provides for our people,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to take care of the one who provides for our people.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Retired Navy Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> deputy undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere at NOAA, led the news conference where the report was released Tuesday. In a statement, he underscored the importance of scientists continuing to track the conditions in the Arctic.</span></b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The speed and trajectory of the changes sweeping the Arctic, <b>many occurring faster than anticipated, </b>makes NOAA’s continued investment in Arctic research and activities all the more important,” Gallaudet said. “We need the best scientific information to support NOAA’s efforts to better understand how environmental change is affecting the Arctic and weather around the globe, to support adaptation and economic opportunities in the region, and to sustain our ocean-based Blue Economy.”</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/noaa-commercial-fishing-proposal-2584281440.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/noaa-commercial-fishing-proposal-2584281440.html</a></font></p><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NOAA Proposes Opening Marine Monuments to Fishing Within 90 Days</font></h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font></p><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2584281440" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="NOAA Proposes Opening Marine Monuments to Fishing Within 90 Days" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/noaa-climate-focus-2581530049.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reports surfaced</a> in June that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (<a href="http://www.noaa.gov/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">NOAA</a>) might shift the language of its mission statement away from climate and conservation and towards security and the economy, acting head Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet rushed to reassure reporters that the agency's mission would remain unchanged.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But a copy of the presentation in which Gallaudet floated the language change, reviewed by <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/marine-monuments-commercial-fishing_us_5b3e945be4b05127ccf05a35" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Huffington Post Thursday</a>, reveals a much more specific proposal which exemplifies what a shift away from conservation might mean: opening marine national monuments to commercial fishing.</font></p><p><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gallaudet gave the presentation at the Department of Commerce's "Vision Setting Summit." In it, he outlined the Commerce Department's "Strategic Priorities for 2018," which included cutting the U.S. seafood trade deficit (the U.S. imports more than 80 percent of the seafood it consumes) and expanding maritime commerce. To meet those goals, he proposed granting "permit fishing in marine monuments" within 90 days of the meeting.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal comes as the world's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">oceans</a> are increasingly threatened by <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">plastics</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/overfishing" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">overfishing</a>. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/one-third-of-commercial-fish-stocks-fished-at-unsustainable-levels-1910593830.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">As of 2016</a>, nearly 90 percent of fisheries were either fished to capacity or overfished. Another 2016 report <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/there-will-be-more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-ocean-by-2050-1882154887.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">warned</a> there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For <a href="http://oceans5.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Oceans 5</a> program director Seth Horstmeyer, Gaulladet's proposal would "fly in the face" of the goal of the marine national monument program, which is to preserve ocean ecosystems and resources, including fisheries. He told The Huffington Post that allowing fishing in these protected waters would turn them into "paper monuments."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Horstmeyer also said that fishing in marine monuments would do nothing to impact how much fish the U.S. catches relative to other countries.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Each year the Hawaii-based longline fishery is allocated a quota for how much bigeye tuna they can catch, so opening marine monuments will not allow more fish to be caught and certainly will not reduce the trade deficit," he said.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Despite this, opening marine national monuments to fishing is not a new idea for the Trump administration.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2017, President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a> signed <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-antiquities-act-bears-ears-2379688298.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">executive orders</a> asking for a review of 27 national monuments on land and sea.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A draft of a report by Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a> leaked to the press in September recommended opening the Pacific Remote Islands, Rose Atoll and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts marine national monuments to commercial fishing, but the final draft of his report did not mention authorizing commercial fishing in any particular monument.</font></p><p><span style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead, it suggested Trump lift the current prohibition on fishing in monuments and move authority over fisheries to regional councils as allowed by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NOAA spokeswoman Julie Roberts called attention to Gaulladet's statement when news of the presentation first surface last week, in which he said it was not "a final, vetted proposal." But when asked about fishing specifically, Roberts did mention Zinke's proposal for managing fisheries in national monuments based on the 1976 act.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Successful implementation of this statute has been the key to the U.S. having the most sustainable wild-caught fisheries management in the world," Roberts wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. She did not answer questions about which monuments could be impacted.</font></p><div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fish-migration-conflict-climate-change-2578272321.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">'Fish Fights' Could Erupt as Climate Change Drives Species Across ... ›</font></a></li></ul></div></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25062018/noaa-mission-climate-change-science-weather-research-oceans-coasts-timothy-gallaudet-trump">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25062018/noaa-mission-climate-change-science-weather-research-oceans-coasts-timothy-gallaudet-trump</a></font></p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">he acting chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposed removing the word "climate" from the research agency's mission statement, the latest maneuver in the Trump administration's wide-ranging effort to downplay federal work on climate science and limit the public's access to it.</font></p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal drew swift condemnation from scientists. "Redefining<a href="https://twitter.com/NOAA" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">@NOAA</a>'s mission is a serious threat to the breadth of science, services and stewardship that NOAA provides," <a href="https://twitter.com/JaneLubchenco/status/1011081002339295232" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">tweeted </a>the former head of NOAA Jane Lubchenco.</font></p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposed revision was unveiled by Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/leadership/rdml-tim-gallaudet-phd-usn-ret" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Timothy Gallaudet</a> in a PowerPoint presentation he used at a "vision setting" summit last week of the Commerce Department, which houses NOAA. After the response from scientists and questions from the media, Gallaudet walked back the proposal through a statement issued by the NOAA press office.</font></p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead of describing the mission as "to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts," in line with the <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/about-our-agency" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">existing mission statement</a> on the agency's website, his presentation had suggested the phrase "to observe, understand and predict atmospheric and ocean conditions."...</font></p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IN <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">another shift, the missions of protecting coastal resources and ecosystems would be replaced with "to protect lives and property, empower the economy, and support homeland and national security."</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NOAA's research on climate change and its effects is used by cities, states, farmers, the country's national security apparatus, businesses and universities, said Andrew Rosenberg of the Union of Concerned Scientists and a former NOAA staffer who obtained the PowerPoint and shared it with the media.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Latest Push to Undermine Climate Science</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental and science advocates called the shift among the starkest examples to date by the Trump administration to undermine federal work on global warming. President <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Donald Trump</a> and many of his top advisers deny manmade <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">climate change</a>, which has led to his high-profile decisions such as pulling the United States out of the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/paris-climate-agreement" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Paris climate agreement</a> and scrapping the Clean Power Plan.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But in smaller yet still meaningful ways, the administration has worked from the outset across federal agencies to strip mention of climate change and curtail work on it, according to watchdog groups such as the <a href="https://envirodatagov.org/publication/changing-digital-climate/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Environmental Data & Governance Initiative</a> (EDGI).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In December 2017, for instance, the administration <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">dropped the mention of climate change</a> as a global threat from its National Security Strategy document. Also in December, the Interior Department issued <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2018/01/05/document_gw_04.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">a secretarial order halting efforts </a>on public lands to adapt to climate change.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Joel Clement, a whistleblower who was formerly director of its office of policy analysis, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11042018/zinke-interior-department-staff-reassignments-inspector-general-report-whistleblower-joel-clement-doi-scientist" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">accused the Interior Department</a> of reassigning him to an obscure accounting post as retaliation for speaking out about the threats manmade climate change poses to Alaskan villages</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. In August, the administration </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/20/the-trump-administration-just-disbanded-a-federal-advisory-committee-on-climate-change/?nid&utm_term=.ef8864b61082" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">disbanded a federal advisory panel</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> that helps government and corporate officials incorporate climate research into planning. And in April 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency scrubbed from its website "extensive information on the EPA's work to mitigate climate change, as well as details of data collection efforts and indicators for climate change," according to EDGI.</span></font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Afterward, Gallaudet Walks It Back</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Through the NOAA press office, Gallaudet issued a statement that walked back the proposed changes in his presentation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The PowerPoint "was intended to share new ways NOAA could augment the DOC's [Department of Commerce] strategic plan. It was not intended to exclude NOAA's important climate and conservation efforts, which are essential for protecting lives and the environment. Nor should this presentation be considered a final, vetted proposal," the statement said....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">off bs</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: 0.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Timothy Gallaudet</b>, Ph.D., was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 5, 2017, as the assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere for the Department of Commerce in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: 0.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dr. Gallaudet was previously a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, where his most recent assignment was</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Oceanographer of the Navy and Commander of the Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Command</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. During his 32 years of military service, Dr. Gallaudet has had experience in weather and ocean forecasting, hydrographic surveying,<b> developing policy and plans to counter illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing</b>, and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">assessing the national security impacts of climate change</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. He has led teams of Navy sailors and civilians performing such diverse functions as overseeing aircraft carrier combat operations, planning and conducting humanitarian assistance and disaster response efforts, assisting Navy SEAL Teams during high visibility counter-terrorism operations, and developing the Navy's annual $52 billion information technology, cyber security and intelligence budget.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: 0.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dr. Gallaudet holds a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">master’s and doctoral degrees from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, all in oceanography.</span></font></p><p align="left"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> ==</font></p></div>