| It’s not a great time to be a climate scientist. That was the general sentiment hanging over the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in downtown Washington this week, write Zack Colman and Chelsea Harvey. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to do his worst to unravel climate policy when he retakes the White House next month. He has pledged to re-exit the Paris climate agreement, dismantle his predecessor’s landmark climate law, and roll back environmental regulations across the government. That has rattled the 25,000 researchers attending the world’s largest science conference. They fear censorship, funding cuts and layoffs. “Everybody at AGU is nervous,” Jill Brandenberger, climate security program manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, told Zack and Chelsea. “The unknown is what makes people nervous.” The first Trump administration tried to undo or weaken environmental rules. But its success was a mixed bag and while many federal agencies erased references to climate change on their websites, they largely plodded on with related work. Dozens of scientists at the conference told Zack and Chelsea that they were concerned Trump 2.0 could be even more antagonistic toward their work, especially after the Biden administration gave climate research a financial shot in the arm. Much of the worry stems from Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint led by the Heritage Foundation that calls for deep funding cuts to environmental and climate work and, in some instances, axing programs altogether. While Trump’s team has said Project 2025 does not represent its views, many of its authors are former Trump officials. And Trump has tapped some of them to join his new administration. “Everyone’s demoralized,” said a NASA scientist, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. The scientist noted that if Elon Musk gets his wish of using NASA resources to send a crew to explore Mars, that might compete with funding for climate programs. While federal scientists are preparing for the worst-case scenarios, many are also strategizing on how to protect their research and safeguard scientific integrity. “We’re gonna weather any changes,” Brandenberger said.
| 
