NEW ORLEANS — Within hours of the Trump administration announcing plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, scientists and science advocates were plotting ways to save the 65-year-old institution.
But even amid that planning, there was widespread feeling of outrage at the move — especially at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest Earth science society.
Normally the event, held this year in New Orleans, serves as a beacon for all manner of climate scientists. But the gathering — already muted because of prior cuts to federal climate programs — took a darker turn once news brokethat the administration wanted to take apart the Colorado-based center, which one White House official called one of the “largest sources of climate alarmism.”
Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the announcement “was like a bomb dropping on the community.”
