Trump Administration ordered to stop predictions over climate change impacts

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Trump administration has informed a major US government department to end predicting what the long-term effects of climate change will be on the country. The Director of the USGS (US Geological Survey) James Reilly is a former oil geologist appointed by the White House. The New York Times reported that he has ordered scientific assessments only use computer-generated models that track the possible impact of climate change until 2040. Formerly the USGS modeled effects until the end of the century, the second half of which is likely to see the most dramatic impacts of global warming.

The order is amid to impact the U.S government’s National Climate Assessment. An interagency report produced every four years which outlines the projected impact of climate change in every corner of U.S society. The most recent report was produced late last year but dismissed by Trump. Scientists used computer models in the report to predict the U.S would face devastating economic and health impacts from global warming by the end of the century. The next report is due to release in 2021 or 2022 points out worst-case scenario predictions will not automatically be included.

One climate scientist, Philip Duffy of the Woods Hole Research Center, said it was a blatant attempt to politicize science. The move is just the latest in a concerted attempt by the Trump White House to undermine climate science and challenge attempts to address runaway warming, which is posing an existential threat to much of life on Earth. Leaked documents announced earlier this year from Trump administration creating a panel to challenge climate threat assessments. The panel was headed by a climate change denier who once compared the demonization of carbon dioxide to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. Trump has regularly mocked global warming, having repeatedly called for more of it during periods of cold weather.