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FROM THE FIGHT against climate change to dwindling budgets for research, the US scientific community fears the worst under Donald Trump, seen by many as the most hostile to science of any American president in history.
Trump will be “the first anti-science president we have ever had,” warned Michael Lubell, director of public affairs for the American Physical Society in Washington, in the British journal Nature.
“The consequences are going to be very, very severe.”
Meanwhile, the vice president-elect, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, is an ultraconservative and a creationist who has rejected Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, the foundation of modern biology.
“There’s a fear that the scientific infrastructure in the US is going to be on its knees,” said Robin Bell, a geophysicist at Columbia University and incoming president-elect of the American Geophysical Union.
“Everything from funding to being able to attract the global leaders we need to do basic science research.”
A key worry is how the New York billionaire declared climate change to be “hoax” orchestrated by the Chinese, and vowed to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
“If Trump makes good on his campaign promises and pulls out of the Paris Treaty, it is difficult to see a path forward to keeping warming below dangerous levels,” said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center (ESSC) at Pennsylvania State University.
Lost decade
The United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses after China.
For John Abraham, professor of engineering at University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, the election of Trump “has cost us at least a decade” in the fight against global warming.
“I study ocean warming and energy balances of the Earth,” he told AFP.
“The data is staring us right in the face. We could not afford this election result.
“The only way we can avoid serious climate change is to rapidly implement Obama’s work,” he added.
Early in October, nearly 400 scientists including 30 Nobel laureates wrote an open letter, criticizing Trump’s proposed plans to abandon global climate deals.
“A ‘Parexit’ would send a clear signal to the rest of the world: ‘The United States does not care about the global problems of human-caused climate change,’” they wrote.
“The consequences of opting out of the global community would be severe and long-lasting — for our planet’s climate and for the international credibility of the United States.”
Trump ‘uninformed’
“Clearly he is uninformed on many things,” said Rush Holt, director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science.
He raised concern about Trump’s choice of leading climate skeptic Myron Ebell to head the transition of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency through which President Barack Obama set many of his tougher regulations on pollution from power plants and automobiles.
However Holt, a former lawmaker himself, cautioned that when it comes to Trump, “it’s not really clear what he thinks about climate change,” he told AFP, noting that Trump has often made contradictory statements.
For instance, Trump applied for permits to build a sea wall protecting one of his golf courses in Ireland, citing the dangers of sea level rise.
“It may well be that if it’s presented to him as a matter of dollars and cents then he would think about it differently than if it is presented as a matter of domestic politics or international politics.”
Perhaps the realm of space exploration — long a bipartisan source of pride among Americans — is the only area of science where Trump’s support has been clear.
Answering a question from ScienceDebate.org, Trump said space exploration will promote interest in science education and bring jobs and investment to the country.
“Observation from space and exploring beyond our own space neighbourhood should be priorities,” he said.
- © AFP 2016.
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I hereby submit an improved bid of €2.50, two cans of Tanora (expiry March 2023), a copy of yesterday’s Irish Examiner (mint condition, only read once) and a handful of mini-Bounties that were not claimed from last Christmas’s tub of Celebrations.
@Kevin Collins: I like the mini Bountys!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: freak
@Dave: And I would prefer one of the dark chocolate Bountys in the red wrapper!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: sweet jesus
What the article neglects to mention is the lift will not only service the three stories within the building, but also the nine levels of Hell.
Must be a few Masons on the board allowing it to be sold for only €1. Very little green space in the city as it is, and with all their green talk, just shows how little they actually value it.
@Ross O’: Day Boyle would change his opinion fast if there was ever an emergency in the building
‘Who controls the British Crown, who keeps the metric system down….’
@Ronan Mc: We do
Would they do the same if rolls were reversed?
I’m surprised it wasn’t €33
@Dave Huston 5 Blocked By Journal again.: or 666
@Dave Huston 5 Blocked By Journal again.:OMG my ‘like’ was a ’33′!!
FFS. Give éire back to éire, once and for all. The amount of ‘freemasons’ around the world, do not need any part of our Island……….. Go phuck yourselves, Mason
…………
@Joseph Mc Dermott: I’m surprised that the censors understood the significance of 33 and 666.
Why do freemasons still exist?
@Pat the Baker: Why do Christians still exist, in the 21st century? It’s a mystery.
@Pat the Baker: an inner circle established to promote the interests of their membership…some things never change
@Tom: the Catholic Church prohibits membership of the FM as far as I remember.
@Tom: plenty of christians I’m afraid, how this superstition is still alive is a mystery
@Dermattg: I think that was politcal as Freemasons were traditionally Protestant, at least the ones based in Ireland of Christain faith.
@Dermot Lane: Freemasons are a secret society who behave in undemocratic ways across the British Empire – not suitable for a republic.
Not unlike the catholic church, they interfere in politics behind the scenes of course so no-one can challenge them.
@Pat the Baker: Knights of Columbanus ditto!
@Tom: If you really look into it the God they worship (the “Light-Giver”) appears to be Lucifer as that’s what Lucifer means.
Why was the bid not €666 ?
@BLD Games: cos the Masons don’t have any link to the emperor Nero, that we know of.
The Tuckey St. Masonic Hall is beautiful inside.
People need more parks in cities not less. Inner cities turning into wastelands populated by sports clothing outlets. Depressing.
Why not indeed
I mean, it costs alot of money for the upkeep of the massive building they own on Molesworth St. In fact, i think its half of one side of the street.
I mean, they are not made of money.
Or are they ?
The Peace Park is built partly on top of a mass grave dating from the Siege of 1690.
@Seamus Enright: The Peace Park is often not very peaceful! One of the dodgiest parts of the city.
They really know how to put the “free” in to “Freemason”
“The Freemasons are a fraternal organisation whose main operations in Ireland include charity fundraising. ”
What rubbish. They are a secret society who at the higher Degrees incorporate blood-curdling oaths against revealing Masonic secrets. How this kind of deal was even considered beggars belief.
Women should be allowed to be in The ‘sexist’ Masons
Sell it for a proper price it’s public money they are dealing with. No giv aways.
What is it with ffg they just can’t stop giving our land away to private entities for near to nothing
have your say