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快活app Alumna Stands Up for Climate Science

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Author(s)

Alyssa Hurst

Feature  •
Alumni  •
Maria-Caffrey-Headshot

When Donald Trump was elected president, 快活app alumna Maria Caffrey was working as a scientist for the National Parks Service (NPS), preparing coastal climate change predictions to guide the agency鈥檚 planning and programming. Though candidate Trump had called climate change a hoax on several occasions, Caffrey was told to carry on with business as usual.

鈥淚 was a government scientist. I wasn鈥檛 a political appointment, so my work, as I saw it, could continue as it always had 鈥 delivering the best science to the American people,鈥 Caffrey says.

Little did she know then that her career and future were on the line, about to become casualties of the kind of politicization that scientists have long deplored. Over the next few years, Caffrey would find herself at the center of a battle over censorship and of numerous media inquiries into the fate of 鈥渟ettled science鈥 in a controversial administration.听

鈥淎s the [Trump] administration started to get more involved in day-to-day operations, things started to get a little stranger,鈥 Caffrey recalls. 鈥淪uddenly people were a little more hesitant to publicly talk about climate change.鈥

At the time, Caffrey, who graduated from 快活app in 2007 with a master鈥檚 in geography, was preparing scenarios about the agency鈥檚 118 coastal parks. Her findings, scheduled for publication in 2016, were expected to draw some serious media and scientific attention. But the publication date kept retreating, and Caffrey stepped away from the NPS for maternity leave.

That鈥檚 when the trouble started.

鈥淚t was while I was on maternity leave that I had a colleague reach out to me and say that people very high up in the NPS system were editing my report to take out anywhere where I mentioned that humans are the cause of climate change,鈥 Caffrey recalls.

For Caffrey, that was unacceptable, so she began mounting her arguments against the move to censor information that is largely regarded 鈥 by the research community and countless environmental bodies worldwide 鈥 as settled science. In no time, Caffrey鈥檚 battle captured the attention of 鈥淩eveal鈥 reporter Elizabeth Shogren, who produced a on the squabble.

Ultimately, negative press and continued pushback led to the NPS . But less than a year later, Caffrey found herself without a job when the NPS declined to renew her funding. The agency even denied her request to volunteer her services, she says.

Since leaving the NPS, Caffrey has continued her fight for the integrity of research and for the protection of scientists. With the help of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, she filed a whistleblower complaint against the Trump administration and , sharing her concerns about the politicization of climate research. She was also invited to speak at the . There, she told the assembled delegates about how her experience at the NPS has affected her life and career.

鈥淚t felt like I had fallen into some alternate reality where colleagues who were totally on board with the science, who would never question it, who considered this settled science, were suddenly overnight telling me I have to edit my words to suit a political agenda,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t was shocking that we would do that.鈥

Caffrey calls the experience harrowing, and with her whistleblower complaint on the table, it isn鈥檛 over yet. But through it all 鈥 the job loss, the harsh criticism, the damage to her career 鈥 she has remained focused on the threat of climate change.

鈥淵ou might think of climate change as this gradual warming, but there are so many other events that are going to punctuate that time. In the West, we are covered in smoke from wildfire. We have an unprecedented number of hurricanes that have made it through the Atlantic this season,鈥 Caffrey says. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have time to sit out. We need to be taking action now. 鈥 That鈥檚 why I felt it was really important to fight back.鈥

What鈥檚 more, Caffrey wanted to set an example for her daughter. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e being bullied into something you know isn鈥檛 right, I think it鈥檚 important to stand up for that. I wasn鈥檛 going to take that kind of bullying. I was going to stay calm and keep doing my work.鈥

In the months since losing her position, Caffrey has succeeded in bringing national attention to the plight of climate scientists under the Trump administration. Although she has emerged as an effective activist, that鈥檚 not the work she loves and longs for. 听

鈥淚 would really like to be able to get back to work,鈥 she says. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to go back to my quiet life where I can do my best to contribute to America鈥檚 legacy, which is its public lands.鈥