Scientists see a change in the climate coming, and they are acting fast to prepare for its effects. They believe they know exactly when it will change: Jan. 20, Inauguration Day for Donald Trump, when the political climate turns.
Trump openly questions not just whether climate change is anthropogenic but whether it is happening at all. Further, his Cabinet choices appear to align with his way of thinking. That has climate researchers concerned that the new president will act, somehow, to shut down research or to limit public access to the vast storehouse of climate data that has been collected over the decades.
So, they are putting out a call to scrape and save every last bit of climate data for storage in the cloud and on servers around the world.
And this is a good thing.
A month before his Inauguration, Trump has unintentionally put climate change at the forefront of the public's mind. And this effort by individuals and companies around the world to archive this flood of data might lead new insights into how and why the climate is changing, as opportunities for collaboration present themselves.
Even if it weren't copied onto non-government servers, the data could not be deleted by President Trump with the flip of a switch. But researchers are wise to see the chill coming. The administration could make government climate data -- collected by agencies such as NASA and NOAA -- harder to access. And, yes, some data could be destroyed, or at least shelved.
The more realistic fear is that data collection would end. That would eliminate the ability of researchers to record trends, which is the measure of change. Even those who question the hows and whys of climate change should support the continued collection of data, because the numbers are the objective measure of what's happening.
So, even if it's simply paranoia, the efforts of climate scientists to duplicate and disseminate data will be good for research, good for science and good for the planet.
-- By the Loveland, Colorado, Reporter-Herald
editorial board, Digital First Media