A new
Super El Niño is forming, and it has the potential to inflict huge changes on our weather, food supplies, and disaster preparedness.
The timing couldn't be worse. Because right now, the Trump administration is also trying to dismantle U.S. weather and climate science programs. That is an extremely short-sighted and foolish approach that could leave the whole world under-prepared for serious weather disasters.
Sign the petition to demand that the U.S. Congress pass legislation to protect the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)! These are not optional agencies - they are here to monitor oceanic temperatures, climate, and weather patterns in order to keep all of us safe.El Niños form in the tropical Pacific Ocean, recurring fairly regularly, bringing hotter temperatures to the ocean. But this year, it won't just be an average warm El Niño. Scientists with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have warned that they expect a
"Super El Niño," which could be one of the "largest El Niño events in the historical record going back to 1950."This isn't a huge surprise, since global heating means that ocean temperatures have already been rising at a shocking rate - even in non-El Niño years. The problem, though, is that a super-strengthened El Niño has the capacity to severely disrupt the world, kill countless people, and wreak economic damage as well.
El Niños are associated with more frequent and more severe natural disasters such as: massive hurricanes, severe storms, droughts and famines, heat waves, floods, coral bleaching, and more.
Yet the Trump administration is trying to use a "see no evil," "ignorance is bliss" approach. By interfering with research and monitoring at organizations like NSF,
they seem to hope that severe weather events simply won't happen if we don't anticipate them and don't alert the public. They're also afraid that we'll put 2+2 together and start talking about global warming, which would annoy their Oil and Gas corporation buddies.
Dismantling the NSF, NOAA, or any other scientific agency won't prevent a Super El Niño and won't reverse or stop climate change. Knowledge is power - and we need early-warning detection systems in order to better prepare and keep everyone safe.
Sign the petition to demand that the U.S. Congress do the right thing and protect the public by implementing safeguards for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)! We must prioritize safety, facts, and science first!