Scientists react to 'stupid' NOAA firings with more on the way: 'It's just utter cluelessness. It's malevolence'
Source: The Independent
Friday 28 February 2025 18:28 GMT
Layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday drew a swift rebuke from scientists and politicians, who say the move could devastate the country’s ability to respond to extreme weather events and stop the flow of life-saving data.
Around 800 employees at the 12,000-person agency were impacted by the unceremonious firings, which came even after the Trump administration has scrambled to reverse some of its previous terminations at the National Park Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Agriculture.
Like at the Park Service, NOAA employees who were let go were in critical positions. However, that hasn’t stopped Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from stumbling forward — this time aiming their spears at government workers with all levels of experience, in ocean science, climate science, forecasting, fisheries, and other areas.
One of those employees was Tom DiLiberto, a climate scientist who has worked at NOAA since 2010 and ran the agency’s blog about monitoring and forecasting El Niño and La Niña climate patterns and their regional and global impacts. NOAA forecasts the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, one of the most important climate phenomena on Earth, for the entire world. “Everything that’s happened is just making the U.S. less safe and really making the world less safe,” he told The Independent on Friday. “...This affects everybody, no matter where you live.”
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/noaa-firings-doge-musk-antartica-b2706772.html
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