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Information on the internet may seem permanent, but it’s only as lasting as people decide to keep it. This became evident during the second Trump administration’s “floods the zone” efforts to dismantle science agencies and their data and websites. The targets ranged from public health, demographics, to climate science.
We are research librarians and policy scholars belonging to Public Environmental Data Partners, a coalition of nonprofits, archivists, and researchers who rely on federal data for analysis, advocacy, and litigation. In the first three weeks of Trump’s term, agencies removed access to at least a dozen climate and environmental justice tools. The new administration also scrubbed “climate change” from government websites, along with terms like “resilience.”
Here’s why and how Public Environmental Data Partners and others are ensuring that essential climate science remains available.
### Why Government Websites and Data Matter
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The internet and data availability are crucial for innovation, research, and daily life. Climate scientists analyze NASA satellite observations and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather records to understand changes in the Earth system, what’s causing them, and how to protect climates built into economies. Researchers use these sources alongside Census Bureau data to understand who is most affected by climate change. Every day, people worldwide log onto the Environmental Protection Agency’s website to learn about hazards and government actions on climate change.
Removing information from government websites makes it harder for the public to participate in key democratic processes, like commenting on proposed regulations. When an agency proposes a rule repeal, it must solicit public comments, often found through government websites. Altered or offline resources breed mistrust in both government and science.
### Bye-Bye Data?
The first Trump administration removed discussions of climate change and policies widely across government websites. However, our research over the first four years didn’t find evidence that datasets were permanently deleted. The second administration seems more aggressive with rapid and pervasive information removal.
In response, groups like Public Environmental Data Partners have been archiving prioritized climate datasets, uploading copies to public repositories, and cataloging where and how to find them if they disappear from government websites.
### Maintaining Tools for Understanding Climate Change
There’s a targeted effort to systematically remove tools that summarize and visualize the social dimensions of climate change. For instance, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool mapped low-income and marginalized communities expected to experience severe climate changes like crop losses and wildfires. The mapping tool was taken offline shortly after Trump’s first set of executive orders.
Most original data behind the mapping tool is still available but harder to find and access because it’s no longer part of an official government project. However, since the tool was developed as an open-source project, we recreated it.
### Preserving Websites for the Future
In some cases, entire webpages are offline. For example, the Climate Change Center page at the Department of Transportation doesn’t exist anymore. Other pages have limited access; EPA hasn’t removed its climate change pages but has removed “climate change” from its navigation menu, making it harder to find those pages.
### What You Can Do
You can find archived climate and environmental justice datasets and tools on the Public Environmental Data Partners website. Other groups are archiving datasets linked in the Data.gov data portal and making them findable in other locations. Individual researchers also upload datasets in searchable repositories like OSF, run by the Center for Open Science.
If you’re worried about certain data disappearing, consult this checklist from MIT Libraries to help safeguard federal data.
### Narrowing the Knowledge Sphere
It’s unclear how far the administration will push its attempts to remove or hide climate data and science. A federal district court judge ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s removal of public health resources was harmful and arbitrary, restoring access. We worry more data removals could narrow public understanding of climate change, leaving people unprepared and at greater risk.
While data archiving efforts help, there is no replacement for government research infrastructures producing and sharing climate data.
