Dr. Stephen Volz, former NOAA scientist gave a powerful talk at the Stand Up for Science rally (SUFS) in D.C. This is what I heard him say:
Funds for research diverted to private companies. Instruments measuring air and water quality are canceled.
Thousands of scientists forced out. Those still on the job cannot travel to conferences, cannot talk to international partners, Congress or the press.
Volz named it plainly: The great silencing of science inside the federal government.
“Thousands have quit or been forced out. Lobotomizing U.S. scientific research inside the federal government.”
Dr. Stephen Volz was associate administrator for satellite and information services at NOAA. He’s now on administrative leave and free to speak out and shout-down the silence.
“Our ability to make sound scientific decisions is compromised — hijacked.”
The agency supports open science, international collaboration, excellence in data collection. It collects and analyzes data on the sky, the sea, the air. NOAA is a network of international scientists the global earth enterprise working for public good.
“Without scientific monitoring, the profit-seeking polluters will reign and we will be left to clean up the mess.”
What can we do? Volz said stand tall and speak the truth. We in the diaspora are working to protect and sustain the knowledge at risk. What we do now will set the path for our planet for the next ten thousand years.
Listen for yourself. Watch Dr. Volz and the other excellent speakers stand up for science at the SUFS rally on Youtube.
