#climate-science

#climate-science

Spain's environment minister has written to prosecutors to warn of an alarming increase in hate speech and social media attacks directed against climate science communicators, meteorologists and researchers. In a letter sent to hate crimes prosecutors on Wednesday, Sara Aagesen said a number of recent reports examined by the ministry had detected a significant increase in the hostile language that climate experts are subjected to on digital platforms.

Scientists connected to Columbia Climate School and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory received notable accolades from renowned national and international research societies this fall. Edward R. Cook, Ewing Lamont research professor of biology and paleo environment at Lamont, was given the Roger Revelle Medal from the American Geophysical Union. This award is given annually to one honoree for their "outstanding contributions in atmospheric sciences, atmosphere-ocean coupling, atmosphere-land coupling, biogeochemical cycles, climate or related aspects of the Earth system."

A south London school is on track to become the first all-girls school in the world to send a satellite into space. The independent Croydon High School in south London, has designed and built a working satellite which they aim to launch into low-Earth orbit in the next couple of years. They hope the plan, called Mission Pegasus, will inspire girls to take on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, known as STEM, where females are still under-represented.

There's a sense of dread at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab these days as thousands of scientists, researchers, students and staff wait to see whether entire divisions will be decimated by budget cuts. President Donald Trump's Department of Energy proposed a budget in May that would slash support for biological and environmental research by 54% and support for energy efficiency and renewable energy by 74%.

Earlier this year, we were critical of the US's National Academies of Science for seemingly refusing to respond to the Trump administration's attacks on science. That reticence appeared to end in August with the release of the DOE climate report and the announcement that the EPA was using that report as the latest word on climate science, which it argued had changed considerably since the initial EPA decisions on this issue in 2009.

It is critical that federal policymaking is informed by the best available scientific evidence. Decades of climate research have yielded expanded understanding of how greenhouse gases affect the climate.

At risk is research that would develop next-generation climate models, track the planet's changing oceans, and explore the Solar System.