Opinion: Some advice for disillusioned EPA scientists: ‘Don’t quit, fight’

To the editor: I echo the advice given to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees disillusioned by working in the Trump administration: “Don’t quit, fight.” (“At Trump’s EPA, going to work can be an act of defiance,” April 4)

President Trump cannot change basic science. He will learn that non-believers can only “win” short term. Science will win, and the longer that takes, the worse it will be for Earth (humanity). Thousands of international scientists have, with increasing unanimity, agreed that the climate is changing on our planet.

Due to the use of fossil fuels, there are billions of additional tons of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. That atmospheric energy, acting with the newly warm, newly acidic ocean and the fickle terrain, are the elements that work on our climate changing without our understanding, but to our frequent amazement and sorrow.

Edward Mulvaney, Pasadena

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To the editor: As an engineer, I can’t relate very well to people who reject scientific consensus. I do suspect, however, that much of the current animus against regulators is due to the abuse of environmental impact reports as a tool to block any change to which an interest group objects.

The NIMBY crowd should think deeply about its role in fostering the hostility to science-based governmental actions that the Trump camp is exploiting.

Ed Schlipf, Lancaster

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To the editor: Thank you for the update on the unsung public servants of the EPA. As a former Los Angeles County urban planner, I know that the professional staff at the EPA is largely motivated by furthering the public interest.

The Trump administration can deny science, but it cannot change the basic chemistry and physics of climate change. We need the work of the EPA to continue, and we need a market solution as well: a fee on carbon emissions.

Judith Trumbo, La Cañada Flintridge

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