Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Scientists discuss leaving the U.S. in this week's Expert Voices.
I am an endangered species — a federally funded U.S. climate scientist. For over 25 years, my colleagues and I searched for human-caused fingerprints of climate change and found them from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans. This research put me on collision course with those who deny scientific evidence that human activities are warming our planet. Some of these deniers are now the political leaders of our country.
If you're a climate scientist, what do you do when confronted with denial of facts, of scientific understanding, and of reality itself? Do you lay low in the U.S., let scientific denial go unchallenged, and hope the political climate improves after 2020? Or do you accept President Macron's offer of sanctuary to U.S. climate scientists, and take an extended French sabbatical?
My own choice is clear. My voice is more powerful here than in France. I'm staying in the U.S. I will not hide, change my field of inquiry, or submit to censorship.
The bottom line: I plan to defend the scientific understanding my colleagues and I have gained, even if that might lead to loss of my job. That's preferable to loss of my integrity.
Other voices in the conversation:
- Rush Holt, CEO, AAAS: Stay or go, what matters is the choice
- Hana El-Samad, biochemist, UCSF: Stay, the scientific ecosystem is built to endure