Last Friday, the Donald Trump administration announced plans to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development, leaving employees with the choices of retiring, applying for new jobs, or waiting to be fired. The elimination of the EPA’s research arm is expected to cripple scientific progress in environmental fields at a time when climate disasters are growing more frequent and more severe each season.
Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University, acknowledged how challenging the change from the Biden to Trump administrations has been and said she sometimes feels overwhelmed and frightened. But, she said, she finds solace in the fact that many people are still working through these issues regardless of the executive branch’s actions.
“It’s been a difficult time. But I want to remind people that no matter who is in office, the work of protecting our communities, the work to strengthen our infrastructure, our society, the work to help us be more responsive and prepared for these extremes, all of that work continues,” she said to 97.9 The Hill last week. “It’s happening in city halls, it’s happening in clinics, it’s happening in churches, it’s happening in offices and boardrooms throughout the country.”
Beyond the scientific work continuing in the federal government, Ward said private companies also have logical reasons to invest in sustainability and climate change mitigation because of simple economics; climate disasters weaken the ability of companies to successfully do business. The policy advocate said despite the political turmoil, she’s recently seen lots of engagement in climate issues from private firms. This creates good opportunities for investment in research and climate resilience with or without a federal presence.
“I think what this moment requires of us is that we are challenged to think creatively, to partner widely with people maybe we didn’t consider before, and that we, at a very personal, local level, invest in adaptation and resilience,” she said. “We should not be letting the private sector off the hook. We should be bringing them to the table. They want to be at the table. I haven’t heard a single private sector leader say that they don’t care about this issue or don’t want to engage on it. I really do think they want to contribute positively to the communities in which they operate and also the communities in which they serve.”
Ashley Ward is a senior policy associate for the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.
Another practical reason Ward mentioned for why politics shouldn’t be the main driver of climate action is the fact that ultimately, people are affected by disasters no matter whom they voted for.
“The acknowledgement for adaptation and resilience is something that is shared among all of us,” she said. “The extreme weather of any kind doesn’t really care about your political affiliation, that tornado, that hurricane, that wildfire. Whatever it is, communities everywhere are affected. And as such, they’re having to respond. And so we have to continue to support our communities in every way and capacity that we have.”
Holly Wilson, president of the American Federation of Government Employees labor union chapter representing EPA employees at Research Triangle Park, said it’s likely many of these valuable and important people will leave the state if they lose their jobs.
“These folks are highly technical, they are sought-after, and there is no guarantee that they’re going to remain in North Carolina to contribute to the economy,” she said. “We’ve heard folks talk about, if they lose their job here, they will have to leave the state, which is unfortunate. These are highly sought-after folks.”
While she acknowledged there are some ways federal agencies could be more streamlined, Wilson said she believes these radical changes spearheaded by the Trump administration are far too drastic.
“Could we be more efficient? Absolutely. But again, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it,” she said. “You don’t slash and burn everything, that’s not how you get rid of waste or whatever. That just causes confusion. That’s not a recipe for success, it’s a recipe for confusion, animosity, and disruption and more waste, actually.”
The scientists who continue to work are doing so while facing an extreme lack of morale in their communities. Phil Dickerson, who worked at the EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards before retiring in March, stressed the psychological impacts on the employees affected by the cuts along with a barrage of negative political rhetoric targeting them.
“There’s a lot of stuff out there about federal employees being entitled and lazy and not working hard, and I never saw that,” he said. “So I don’t know where the current administration is getting these tens of thousands of people to get rid of, and I think the public doesn’t understand what that means. When you’re hearing on the news, ‘All federal bodies are lazy, there’s all this fraud, we should get rid of as many as we can,’ those kinds of storylines just make people feel not valuable even though they’re doing valuable work.”
He said the lack of job security will likely deter the upcoming generation of scientists from pursuing the type of career he had.
“If I was coming out of school right now, I would not feel like the federal government was a secure place to be,” he said. “I was there for almost 34 years, and job security was always something that we could tout. So this is really unprecedented in terms of lack of job security.”
Ward said eventually the political pendulum will probably swing back and environmental science may again be prioritized – but until then, leaders at lower levels of government will have to come up with their own solutions without federal help. Despite the general pessimism among environmental scientists, Ward said she is cautiously hopeful there will be leaders who embrace this difficult period and rise to the occasion.
“It is going to take some real creative thinking and work in order to be able to fill that gap in the interim,” she said. “I do think that this is a real moment of opportunity for leadership, especially leadership at the state and local level. And I’m hoping, it seems that in many cases, they’re willing to lean into it.”
Featured image by Ben Crosbie/Chapel Hill Media Group.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
As Trump Administration Continues Slashing EPA, Scientists Hope Other Bodies Can Fill Void Chapelboro.com.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( As Trump Administration Continues Slashing EPA, Scientists Hope Other Bodies Can Fill Void )
Also on site :
- Defiant Serbian leader sends message to EU from Red Square (VIDEO)
- Smoke Signal? Motorcyclist Records Mysterious Black Ring Hovering In Sky Over Kansas (WATCH)
- Kylie Jenner's Dangerously Busty Display Is a 'Top Tier' Look