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The U.S. Is on the Verge of Meteorological Malpractice

The Atlantic

The Trump administration says it will dismantle a premier climate center, while somehow keeping weather forecasting intact.

"On December 17, USA Today broke the news that the Trump administration planned to “dismantle” the center. Climate scientists know NCAR as one of the largest weather-and-climate-research institutions in the world; Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, described it as “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” NCAR had already reduced its staff in anticipation of drastic budget cuts at the National Science Foundation, which provides about half of the center’s funding. In March, a major NCAR project meant to track hurricanes and other severe storms was canceled after the administration pulled back money appropriated for it. Now efforts to dissolve the center would begin “immediately,” USA Today reported, and would include a full closure of the center’s Mesa Laboratory—whose distinctive rose-hued towers, designed by I. M. Pei, have overlooked the city since the 1960s."

Read on

“Destroying Knowledge”:

Michael Mann on Trump’s Dismantling of Key Climate Center in Colorado

Democracy Now

Dr. Mann's latest book:

Threatening NCAR, Trump administration seeks to extinguish a beacon of climate science

Dr. Ben Santer

(Wonks: have fun with the many links in this piece.)

"Even if you’re not a scientist, this should be on your radar. You need to understand what it means.

NCAR is the birthplace of nearly 60 years of scientific discovery. NCAR scientists built computer models of the individual components of Earth’s climate system. Of the atmosphere and the ocean. Of the land surface and marine biogeochemistry. They coupled those components together in full Earth System Models, which capture many critical features of real-world climate. They democratized climate science by making their computer models freely available to the global research community.

And the Trump administration wants to destroy it. Why? Because NCAR attempts to understand the inequitable impacts of human-caused climate change on the poorest and most vulnerable. Because NCAR climate models predict significant changes in Earth’s climate over the 21st century, and is therefore deemed to be “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” And because the president has dismissed climate science as a “con job” perpetrated by “stupid people.” The Trump administration’s world view is that the United States doesn’t need a climate science brain trust because it doesn’t like what the brains say.

In a country that is no longer a democracy, science that does not comport with the leader’s views must be destroyed. But how?

By defunding the federal agencies performing critical research. By firing thousands of scientists responsible for the research. By introducing counternarratives to established scientific understanding. By banning words and phrases like “climate change” and “global warming.” By removing educational material from websites. By installing political operatives to oversee federally funded scientists. By cutting or withholding funding for scientific research at universities. By threatening and punishing individuals and entitiesthat do not bend the knee and bow to the leader’s will. By generating a pervasive climate of fear. A culture of silence and anticipatory obedience.

And by targeting the shining beacons of knowledge—shutting them down or breaking them up into bits and pieces that lack critical mass. Taking over their buildings. Scattering their personnel to the winds."

Read the entire essay.

Report from the front lines at AGU:

Save NCAR

Adam Sobel, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

"AGU is the largest regular gathering of earth scientists in the world, with 20,000 this year. That’s a big number, but smaller by a third than the 30,000 last year, due to the U.S. government’s slashing grants, denying permission for federal scientists to travel, and scaring overseas scientists away from coming here.

We saw the USA Today article on Tuesday evening. I was at the social gathering that my home institution, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, puts on annually at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, held this year in New Orleans. The headline: “Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado.” That center being, the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR, or just NCAR to most of us), in Boulder.

By the next day, the entire meeting was in a state of shock, dismay, anger, and confusion. No one --- not NCAR scientists or administrators, not NSF program managers --- knew any facts, other than the intent expressed by the statements in the USA Today article:

“The National Science Foundation will be breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado,” Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a statement to USA TODAY. “This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country. A comprehensive review is underway and any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.”

Read more on Deep Convection

Take action here, at the AGU's website, where you can message your members of Congress.

And during the National call on September 10 (see next) CCL will conduct a letter writing campaign to Congress reminding them of their authority to sustain funding for NCAR. This link will go live at that meeting.

The Marin and Sonoma Chapters invite you to their monthly meeting,

Saturday, January 10, 2026 at 9 AM PT here.

We'll discuss current climate news (there's a lot) and CCL's next steps (CCL's new strategy) as we begin a new year on a hotter planet.

Then, at 10 AM tune in to the National call here, to learn about what National has planned for this year and how you can help protect NCAR.

How the EU's CBAM will impact the business and carbon pricing landscape

December 15, 2025

CCL has from the beginning promoted a carbon fee, dividend and carbon border adjustment that would harmonize pricing over the global energy economy. Well, here it is!

"The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) entered its definitive stage on 1 January 2026, becoming the first fully operational border carbon adjustment (BCA) policy to begin charging costs based on the emissions intensity of imported goods. 

That will mark the first time that the price of carbon in a certain jurisdiction is externalized beyond its borders.

The EU is not alone in exploring border carbon adjustment as an approach to reduce carbon "leakage," a phenomenon where the production of high-emissions goods is outsourced to countries with lesser regulations."

A "green tariff," the CBAM will incentivize countries that have dirty, carbon intensive exports to clean them up and put in place a carbon price comparable to the EU's.

After two years of testing, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will impose the EU's carbon price on imports of carbon intensive steel, aluminum, fertilizers, cement and petrochemicals. Carbon polluting industries exporting to Europe from China, India and all other non-EU countries, including the U.S., are now incentivized to clean up and to adopt their own comparable carbon price in order to be exempt from the CBAM. Stay tuned for more on this far-reaching, significant climate policy.

Here are several articles on the start up by the World Economic Forum and The Guardian, plus an analysis on its impact (minimal, especially if we enact a carbon price) on the U.S.: CBAM impact on US trade,

Worried, perhaps, about American democracy?

Listen to former CIA analyst and  Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a self-described "national security nerd and 9/11 baby," speaking at the Brookings Institution about her grave concerns for our democracy and what all of us -- politicians and citizens -- can do about it. Turn up your heat, because what she says is chilling. (16 min here.)

Trump has cancelled wind farm permits. Could that be a good thing? Perhaps.

Find out here.

You're invited, but...

This is how one behaves inside The Capitol:

Make an appointment. Business attire recommended. Bring nothing that even looks like a weapon.

Long live democracy.

Prepared by Peter G. Joseph, M.D. 

Peter.Joseph@cclvolunteer.org

Apologies for cross postings.

If you know someone who would like to be added to this distribution list, please suggest they join Marin CCL or contact me .