The Trump administration has buried dozens of taxpayer-funded studies showing the devastating effects of climate change, Politico reports.
The US Department of Agriculture has refused to publicize the studies, which show climate change having a negative effect on everything from rice production to allergy season.
All of the studies were peer-reviewed by other scientists and cleared with the non-partisan Agricultural Research Service, according to the report. None of the studies focused on climate change, but rather its symptoms, like rising carbon dioxide, rising temperatures, and volatile weather.
“The intent is to try to suppress a message — in this case, the increasing danger of human-caused climate change,” University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann told Politico. “Who loses out? The people, who are already suffering the impacts of sea level rise and unprecedented super storms, droughts, wildfires and heat waves.”
Trump cabinet secretary retaliated against officials:
Along with burying scientific reports, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, a longtime climate skeptic, retaliated against USDA economists who issued reports contradicting the administration’s policies on climate change, Politico reported.
The USDA denied covering up the science but Politico’s investigation found a “persistent pattern in which the Trump administration refused to draw attention to findings that show the potential dangers and consequences of climate change.”
Since Trump took office, the Agricultural Research Center has issued released for just two climate-related studies --- ones that had findings positive for the meat industry.
But on negative studies, like one showing negative effects on rice production, the USDA did not just withhold information from the public but “actively sought to prevent dissemination of the findings by the agency’s research partners.”
