Humans did not cause climate change? The controversial EPA move and scientists’ protests

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed from its website information about human factors contributing to global warming. In doing so, the Trump administration has once again caused outrage within the scientific community in the United States and among climate scientists worldwide.

The great EPA website purge

The widely used EPA website had previously explained the issue of climate change, citing facts well known to scientists around the world: the main driver of rising global temperatures is the burning of fossil fuels. The 2013 IPCC report confirmed that humans are responsible for nearly 100 percent of ongoing global warming.

In recent days, however, the page was substantially rewritten, and all references to harmful human activities were removed. The EPA’s official position now states that climate change is driven mainly by natural factors, particularly volcanic eruptions, increased solar activity, and changes in Earth’s orbit. Supposedly, natural CO2 emissions and the level of radiation reflected from Earth’s surface also contribute to warming. There is not a single word about fossil fuel combustion.

A spokesperson for the Agency openly commented on the change, saying that the EPA no longer follows the orders of what he called the climate cult.

Outrage within the scientific community

According to climate scientist Daniel Swain from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the EPA’s current messaging is entirely inconsistent with all available scientific evidence, which shows a tremendous human impact on global warming trends.

“It’s like pretending cigarettes don’t cause lung cancer,” said Jeremy Symons, senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Network and former EPA employee. Jane Lubchenco, former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under President Obama, used even stronger words: “It is outrageous that our government is hiding information and lying.”

Critics lament this attack on a website that had been the most comprehensive climate information source in America and an important educational tool. The changes have caused most archived links to stop working and blocked access to important scientific resources.

Christie Todd Whitman, who led the EPA during the Bush presidency, said in an interview with the Associated Press: “The rest of the world understands that this is happening and is taking steps… And we are simply moving backwards. We are moving back to the Stone Age.”

The bad climate news doesn’t end there

Doubling down, the Trump administration made another major change: it renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado as the National Laboratory of the Rockies. In doing so, an institution that had been one of the global leaders in wind and solar energy research was pulled into the whirlwind of the US government’s climate denialism.

The name change is by no means merely symbolic – according to representatives of the US Department of Energy, the laboratory is now expected to focus on work aimed at ensuring secure energy for the whole nation, without limiting itself to selected (renewable) sources.

The former governor of Colorado expressed deep regret over the decision: “We will no longer be competitive in renewable energy research compared with China, India, and other countries that are still moving very quickly toward the energy transition.”