With scientific facts, calls to act against climate change, and witty one-liners aiming squarely at President Donald Trump, the scientific community is responding to new federal policies on climate change with dozens of rogue social media accounts from rebel agencies, dissident national parks and muzzled researchers.
Now the movement is going off-line and in-person with a science march on Washington and in cities across the country. While no date for the event has been set, @ScienceMarchDC had more than 200,000 followers as of Thursday evening.
Professor Michael Eisen, a geneticist in the molecular biology department at UC Berkeley, said he's ready to organize his colleagues because he's afraid of what the Trump administration might do next.
"They seem to just be rejecting evidence in mass, and they don’t feel like it's an important thing to make evidence-based decisions or base policy on science and evidence. That’s a threat not just to science and scientists; it’s a threat to the whole country," Eisen said.
Emails sent to the Environmental Protection Agency staff detailed specific prohibitions banning news releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts as part of a push by the Trump administration to institute a media blackout.
This move to stifle the EPA's external communications is dangerous because those researchers provide valuable information to the public like air quality measurements, toxins in drinking water, weather data and more.
In a statement, an EPA spokesperson said: "The EPA fully intends to continue to provide information to the public. A fresh look at public affairs and communications processes is common practice for any new administration, and a short pause in activities allows for this assessment."
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Scientists who have focused on their research and tried to stay out of the political fray are increasingly concerned, said Union of Concerned Scientists President Ken Kimmell.
"We are hearing now about scientists organizing and wanting to march because, from their point of view, a world of alternative facts is not the world that they operate on," Kimmell said. "The Trump administration is about initiate a war on science."
Organizers of the Scientists' March on Washington say the event is nonpartisan, but they want to influence policy. They also say the march isn't just for people with Ph.Ds.
"Anyone who values empirical science" can participate, they said.
The resistance online started with four tweets about climate change from @BadlandsNPS that appeared to defy Trump. The tweets went viral, attracting thousands of "likes, but were later deleted.
The tweets came just three days after the Interior Department briefly suspended its Twitter accounts after the park service retweeted photos about turnout at Trump's inauguration, which the president has claimed without evidence was larger than reported by news media. The accounts were reactivated the next day.
According to a National Park Service spokesman, the tweets were posted by a former employee who is not authorized to use the park's account. Tom Crosson, NPS's chief of public affairs, told NBC News that the park was not told to remove the tweets but "chose to do so when they realized that their account had been compromised."
"At this time, National Park Service social media managers are encouraged to continue the use of Twitter to post information relating to public safety and park information, with the exception of content related to national policy issues," Crosson added.
Now @AltBadlandsNPS has taken up the charge, along with @AltNatParkSer and other "alt" Twitter feeds authored by people claiming to be park rangers or employees who are angry with Trump and unafraid to speak out.
2016 was the hottest year on record for the 3rd year in a row. Check out this @NASA & @NOAA report: https://t.co/rLJUC56xqi pic.twitter.com/AKhFzYw6l6
— Golden Gate NPS (@GoldenGateNPS) January 23, 2017
In California, official National Parks accounts are chiming in subtly with posts about climate, history and America's natural treasures.
@RedwoodNPS bragged about how redwood groves are nature's best carbon sink and an essential tool in the fight against global warming.
DYK redwood groves are #1 carbon sink / acre in nature? About 200 tons an acre. More redwoods would mean less #climatechange #climate pic.twitter.com/mHdpRmYEx0
— Redwood N&S Parks (@RedwoodNPS) January 25, 2017
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area shared a recent report published by two federal science agencies (@NASA and @NOAA).
2016 was the hottest year on record for the 3rd year in a row. Check out this @NASA & @NOAA report: https://t.co/rLJUC56xqi pic.twitter.com/AKhFzYw6l6
— Golden Gate NPS (@GoldenGateNPS) January 23, 2017
@DeathValleyNPS referenced the Japanese-American internment camps at Manzanar.
The park service did not return calls requesting comment Thursday.
