Thanks to Trump, there may not be a new generation of Climate Researchers; NOAA grinds to a halt.

[Tonk]

Donald Trump understands climate change, don't let him fool you. He knows that the Arctic Sea ice is in a death spiral, which means shipping of oil and methane can be shipped to locations worldwide all year long. Greenland's mineral wealth is there for Trump and his billionaire buddies to pick. He doesn't understand climate science; even a simple statement such as https://www.presidentti.fi/niinisto/en/news/president-niinisto-in-arkhangelsk-if-we-lose-the-arctic-we-lose-the-whole-world/"if we lose the Arctic, we lose the whole world" with all its complications and intricacies is beyond his skill set and he is nailing the coffin shut on whatever slim chance we have to soften the blows of some of the projected worst impacts.

Mosaic of daily #Arctic sea-ice extent anomalies over the last four decades or so. Another way of visualizing the long-term trend.

Graphic from zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

— Zack Labe (@zacklabe.com) 2025-05-18T23:13:59.075Z

Zack Labe was a sea ice researcher for NOAA and excels with data visualizations, particularly regarding Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. Doge fired Zack and hundreds of other scientists at the beleaguered agency in February.

Zack's online resume

https://zacklabe.com/ includes: "climate risk, climate impacts, future scenarios, extreme events, early warning predictions, and data science methods like AI/ML. In addition to this work, I am very passionate about improving science communication through accessible data visualizations."

Birgitte Annie Hansen quotes Mr. Labe in High Country News, "What message do these layoffs send to the scientific community and the public about the value of climate science?"

"One thing that concerns me a lot is support for the next generation of scientists and early-career scientists. There are budget cuts, layoffs, people are losing their grants, and many students have had their graduate school offers rescinded at the last minute, and internships have been cancelled," says Labe, adding:

"It feels like we are at a tipping point right now where there could be a complete gap in the next generation of scientists who are just trying to make our lives better in the future and improve the economy, public security, and health."

"So that's one of the key things that I'm very concerned about, the message this is giving for inspiring students to want to study science."

Many climate scientists work at universities and are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation. Trump just did this to an agency that keeps us safe in a myriad of ways; he clipped their wings, and we are now at greater risk of climate dystopia.

[link:The Trump administration is sharpening its attacks on the National Science Foundation, the government agency that is a major funder of basic science, math and engineering, especially at colleges and universities across the United States.

The latest salvo: a preliminary budget request from the White House that would cut $4.7 billion, or more than half the agency's $9 billion budget.

The proposal landed the same day the NSF said 344 previously approved grants had been terminated as they "were not aligned with agency priorities," according to an email to NPR. This follows two previous waves of cancellations, in April, that terminated over a thousand awards.|PBS:]

The latest salvo: a preliminary budget request from the White House that would cut $4.7 billion, or more than half the agency's $9 billion budget. The Director of NSF resigned in April.

The proposal landed the same day the NSF said 344 previously approved grants had been terminated as they "were not aligned with agency priorities," according to an email to NPR. This follows two previous waves of cancellations, in April, that terminated over a thousand awards.

E&E News: Deep damage at NOAA.

A growing backlog of hundreds of unsigned NOAA contracts has slowed agency operations to a crawl — so much so that even Sen. Ted Cruz, a staunch ally of the Trump administration, has raised concerns about the gridlock.

The bottleneck is due largely to one man: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose portfolio includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. After taking office in February, Lutnick insisted that he personally review any contract in excess of $100,000.

Intended as an attempt to identify waste and redundancy, the policy instead has sown chaos at the nation’s preeminent climate and weather agency, say former and current NOAA officials.
More than 200 NOAA contracts — including one aimed at helping local communities prepare for extreme weather events — are now stuck in limbo, waiting for Lutnick to make a decision. The impasse has forced NOAA to furlough employees, and it has created a work environment where NOAA staffers spend much of their time trying to justify their work — rather than doing it, they say.

“Everything has ground to a halt,” said one NOAA official who was granted anonymity for fear of reprisal. “We prepare briefings and fill out new forms, nothing is addressed until the very last minute (or later), stress and urgency is very high.”