A group of fired US federal workers has relaunched a defunct climate website, Climate.us, pushing back against the Trump administration's escalating cuts to publicly funded science and research. The site aims to restore access to accurate, accessible, and scientifically rigorous climate information.

The original Climate.gov, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was redirected to a politically controlled site after President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a scam, took office in early 2025. Climate.gov had 15 million page views in 2024 and was growing yearly.

“Trusted climate information should not disappear when politics change,” said Rebecca Lindsey, managing director of Climate.us and a former editor at Climate.gov who lost her job in February 2025. She noted that the popularity of the old site shows Americans want unbiased climate information.

The new site features news, expert blogs, data visualizations, climate indicator reports, and classroom resources. Scientists voluntarily vet content for accuracy, and the site is supported by thousands of small donations from the US and around the world.

The Trump administration has proposed slashing $1.6 billion from NOAA's budget. The federal science workforce has shrunk by about 12%, with 118,000 employees lost from science agencies between September 2024 and February 2026. Grant funding for environmental research has fallen by 79%, leaving communities more vulnerable to polluted water, extreme weather, and disease.

“The brain drain is a real concern,” said experts. A Nature poll found 75% of 1,600 US scientists are considering leaving the country for work, with some already moving to Canada, China, or the EU. Former federal scientists remain unemployed or have moved to state governments, while others are leaving the field entirely. Reversing the damage, experts warn, will take generations.

Source: www.dw.com