science

Saving NCAR: Why Climate Science Matters

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At the NCAR Mesa Lab in Boulder, Colorado on a sunny autumn day. The NCAR Mesa Lab has been slated to close with the dismantling of NCAR and the end of support for climate change research in the USA.

Deleting the word climate change from thousands of government websites will not erase the fact that we are in the midst of a global change that threatens every aspect of our civilization. Deleting climate data will not stop the Earth from getting warmer. Current federal policy around climate change is tantamount to covering your eyes and ears and singing at the top of your lungs as you pretend gravity doesn’t exist and step off a cliff.

In December, the current US government announced plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). NCAR has long been the global flagship for climate research. Nearly every one of my colleagues in climate science has passed through there at one time or another – for conferences, seminars, summer research opportunities, and professional development. The NCAR Mesa Lab in Boulder, CO, has led the world in helping us understand the impacts of global warming.

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In the footsteps of the dinosaurs

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The desert always help me step deep back in time. I love that I can walk in a place that has been shaped by wind and water and deep earth processes more than by life itself. These landscapes were sculpted long before there was even a whisper of human evolution in the global gene pool.

Arches National Park in southwestern Utah in late May is sunshine and blue sky and bright red rocks that cast long shadows in the mornings and evenings. It’s also small white puffy clouds and heat that bakes you from all directions. We are in the park before 7am and out on the trail not much later, so we can be done before running the risk of evaporating right off the sand and rock.

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