The 19th: Trump dismantled a federal climate website. These women rebuilt it.

A good piece on the three women who rebuilt Climate.gov after the Trump Administration took it offline. All three, Rebecca Lindsey, Anna Eshelman, and Mary Lindsey lost their jobs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) courtesy of Elon Musk’s DOGE slaughter of the US federal bureaucracy last year. Their site, Climate.us, went live on 22 June.

The venture came out of a need for more science-backed climate information. For decades, Climate.gov was the go-to resource that translated complex climate science data into accessible public information, sharing critical tips on everything from how to survive heat waves to explainers on El Niño’s impacts on hurricanes to over 15 million site visitors per year. Funding for climate communications used to come straight from the federal government and for that to just be “yanked away” was jarring, (Rebecca) Lindsey said.

“It’s not a pretty picture for climate communication and climate journalism right now,” Lindsey said. “We just felt like it was really important that there be a mature, robust, comprehensive online platform to serve as a hub. We felt that there needed to be a foundation, or cornerstone, that other people could build on and grow with.” 

Via Kottke.org.

Link.