Trump Administration Axes Climate.gov Staff
If you care about the environment, chances are you’ve visited climate.gov at some point. Climate.gov is a popular federal website that helps track changes in climate. A typical article might involve agricultural best practices for farmers, shifts in spring pollen, or a map of current drought areas.
The award-winning flagship website developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) has been a rich source of information since its inception. All that however is now going away.
The current administration recently fired the entire staff responsible for maintaining climate.gov. In an interview with NPR, Rebecca Lindsey, former program manager said, “[The current U.S. administration] think that climate change isn’t real, and they don’t want anybody talking about it.”
It’s not the first time the Trump administration has axed an important environmental program this year. They also laid off the entire staff responsible for the National Climate Assessment, made cuts to the Forest Service, and so much more.
In fact, according to Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law’s “Climate Backtracker,” the Trump administration has scaled back almost 200 environmental policies.
What We Can Do
It is clear that the Trump administration is not concerned about climate change or the environment in any way. On Threads, sociologist Jennifer Walters gave a great explanation of what President Trump is trying to do, and how to overcome it. Here is a direct quote from her threads:
“As a sociologist, I need to tell you: Your overwhelm is the goal.
1/ The flood of 200+ executive orders in Trump’s first days exemplifies Naomi Klein’s “shock doctrine” – using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too disoriented to effectively resist. This isn’t just politics as usual – it’s a strategic exploitation of cognitive limits.
2/ Media theorist McLuhan predicted this: When humans face information overload, they become passive and disengaged. The rapid-fire executive orders create a cognitive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for citizens and media to thoroughly analyze any single policy.
3/ Agenda-setting theory explains the strategy: When multiple major policies compete for attention simultaneously, it fragments public discourse. Traditional media can’t keep up with the pace, leading to superficial coverage.
The result? Weakened democratic oversight and reduced public engagement.
What now? 1/ Set boundaries: Pick 2-3 key issues you deeply care about and focus your attention there. You can’t track everything – that’s by design. Impact comes from sustained focus, not scattered awareness.
2/ Use aggregators & experts: Find trusted analysts who do the heavy lifting of synthesis. Look for those explaining patterns, not just events.
3/ Remember: Feeling overwhelmed is the point. When you recognize this, you regain some power. Take breaks. Process. This is a marathon.
4/ Practice going slow: Wait 48hrs before reacting to new policies. The urgent clouds the important. Initial reporting often misses context
5/ Build community: Share the cognitive load. Different people track different issues. Network intelligence beats individual overload. Remember: They want you scattered. Your focus is resistance.”
This is good advice. There is too much going on, on too many fronts, for any one person to look at it all. Even just looking at the huge number of policies rolled back on the Climate Backtracker is overwhelming.
Together, we can look at these policies and push back whenever and wherever possible.