Scientists Scramble to Protect Decades of Climate Research Before Trump Takes Office

In just over three weeks, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next president. According to the Sierra Club, Trump will be the only world leader who still denies the science behind climate change. Following his election, Donald Trump has nominated a number of climate change deniers for top posts, including Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, former Texas Governor Rick Perry to head the Energy Department and Congressmember Ryan Zinke to become interior secretary. Now scientists at federal agencies are expressing growing concern that the new administration may attempt to destroy or bury decades of scientific studies on climate change. Senior Trump adviser Bob Walker has already proposed stripping funding of NASA’s climate research, describing it as "politically correct environmental monitoring." In a scramble to protect existing government climate data, campaigns have been launched to copy and preserve decades of government-sponsored climate research. We speak to Laurie Allen, assistant director for digital scholarship at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries and member of the Data Refuge Project.