GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations chief delivered a strong defense of science and meteorology on Wednesday, praising the U.N. weather agency for helping save lives by keeping watch for climate disasters around the world.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to the World Meteorological Organization as science faces an assault in the United States: President Donald Trump’s administration has led an anti-science push, and Trump has called climate change “ a con job.”
A longtime advocate for the fight against global warming, Guterres spoke at a special WMO meeting aimed to promote early-warning systems that help countries rich and poor brace for floods, storms, forest fires and heat waves.
“Without your long-term monitoring, we wouldn’t benefit from the warnings and guidance that protect communities and save millions of lives and billions of dollars each year,” he said, alluding to “the dangerous and existential threat of climate change.”
Last week, the weather agency reported that heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilization and causing more extreme weather.
Guterres called WMO staffers the “quiet force that illuminates all the rational climate decisions that we take.”
“Scientists and researchers should never be afraid to tell the truth,” he added.
The Trump administration has carried out deep cuts to the National Weather Service and fired hundreds of weather forecasters and other employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Related Posts:
- Trump administration seeks to cut nearly 200 Colorado jobs at federal public land, science agencies News The Trump administration is seeking to lay off nearly 200 Coloradans who work for the Department of the Interior managing public lands and conducting ecological research. The planned cuts were outlined in a filing made public Monday in an ongoing federal court case stemming from a lawsuit by two labor…
- How leaders of the MAHA movement benefit from anti-science advocacy and promise profits to industry News By MICHELLE R. SMITH and LAURA UNGAR, Associated Press Two advisers to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat on a stage in California this spring, addressing an audience at a natural products industry trade show that drew tens of thousands of people from food brands,…
- How leaders of the MAHA movement benefit from anti-science advocacy and promise profits to industry News By MICHELLE R. SMITH and LAURA UNGAR, Associated Press Two advisers to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat on a stage in California this spring, addressing an audience at a natural products industry trade show that drew tens of thousands of people from food brands,…
- How leaders of the MAHA movement benefit from anti-science advocacy and promise profits to industry News By MICHELLE R. SMITH and LAURA UNGAR, Associated Press Two advisers to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat on a stage in California this spring, addressing an audience at a natural products industry trade show that drew tens of thousands of people from food brands,…
- Wave of anti-science bills pushed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allies hits statehouses, endangering health protections News By MICHELLE R. SMITH and LAURA UNGAR, Associated Press More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year, part of an organized, politically savvy campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into…
(Visited 2 times, 1 visits today)