Kate Marvel has become one of NASA’s most visible climate scientists, known as much for her research as for her work in climate communication as a public speaker, writer and author of a recent book about human emotions to climate change.
But the astrophysicist-turned-climate-expert announced Tuesday that she’d quit her job at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies due to ongoing uncertainties about science funding and the ability to conduct climate research under the Trump administration.
“I found it very hard to concentrate and to do good work in the midst of uncertainty,” Marvel said in an interview after announcing her departure in a Bluesky post that received more than 12,000 likes and 2,000 reposts within hours. Marvel said in her post, “It breaks my heart to leave, but I’ve become convinced the best path forward is to do the best science I can, and that can’t be here anymore.”
The decision was motivated by an accumulation of recent anxieties, Marvel told POLITICO’s E&E News.
