Badlands NP Defies Trump Administration On Climate Change

[maverick]

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times - Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Apparently defying the Trump administration’s new social media policy, the Badlands National Park went rogue for a few hours on Tuesday and tweeted several scientific facts related to climate change — but the tweets were deleted as the White House apparently reeled in the wayward park.

The tweets, from the South Dakota park’s official account, came on the same day Mr. Trump signed executive orders reviving the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, signaling he’ll put a priority on developing energy sources over concerns about climate change.

“The pre-industrial concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 280 parts per million (ppm). As of December 2016, 404.93 ppm,” read one tweet on the park’s Twitter feed. “Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate. Flipside of the atmosphere; ocean acidity has increased 30% since the Industrial Revolution. “Ocean Acidification.” #climate #carboncycle.”

After its initial tweets around 3 p.m. Tuesday, the barrage continued later in the afternoon. Just before 5 p.m., the Badlands account tweeted more climate change information.

“Burning one gallon of gasoline puts nearly 20lbs of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. #climate,” the follow-up tweet reads.

The posts were deleted around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, but not before generating a slew of online stories about who and what was behind the tweets. The tweets on the surface may appear innocuous, but they come at the very instant the new Trump administration has moved to scrub all mentions of climate change from federal websites. The official White House page, for example, no longer mentions global warming, as was the case under President Obama, and instead only discusses Mr. Trump’s energy policy.

In addition, the Trump White House also reportedly has instituted a policy banning some agencies at least temporarily from tweeting and communicating with the media. The Associated Press on Tuesday reported that the Environmental Protection Agency had been instructed not to communicate with reporters.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday said he was looking into reports the EPA had been told not to communicate with reporters, but said such guidance wouldn’t be out of the ordinary during the first days of a new administration.

“We’re looking into it. I don’t think it’s any surprise that when there’s an administration turnover, that we’re going to review the policies,” he told reporters.

But Democrats seized on the incident to attack the Trump administration’s climate policy and its attitude toward dissent in the ranks. Name-checking the authoritarian Russian president, Democratic National Committee national press secretary Adrienne Watson said in a statement, “Vladimir Putin would be proud.”

The National Park Service, a division of the Interior Department that oversees all parks, has been at the center of the social media storm, making Tuesday’s tweets all the more noteworthy.

The NPS had its Twitter account temporarily taken off-line over the weekend after tweeting photos showing what appeared to be the disparity in crowd size between Mr. Trump’s inauguration last week and that of former President Obama in 2009. The tweets were quickly deleted.

Democrats have blasted the administration’s social media moves and said they expect the Badlands tweets to be removed in short order.

“The administration’s disturbing suppression of taxpayer-funded federal agencies’ communication with the public and Congress undermines basic democratic norms. We cannot treat such borderline authoritarian actions as business as usual,” said Adrienne Watson, press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. “How long will it take for the Twitter account of Badlands National Park Service to be suspended for its defiance?”

As of 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, the tweets were still posted.

The Interior Department currently is without a secretary. Rep. Ryan K. Zinke, Montana Republican and Mr. Trump’s pick to head the department, awaits Senate confirmation. He’s expected to be approved, though it’s unclear when a vote will take place.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... te-change/

[Lumbergh21]

Actually, from what I understand, the federal EPA, at least, has been banned from communicating with the public, not just reporters. I believe they have canceled some training that they were providing to water system operators and regulators in California. I will give Trump somewhat the benefit of the doubt as his administration probably wants to brief the higher ups, directors, etc. of the various federal bureau's as to what message he expects them to put out to the public. I saw this in the EPA when Bush took over from Clinton and again when Obama took over from Bush. Only difference that I can remember was very little notice was taken of it. Bush did get hammered some for suspending some last minute EPA decisions made at the end of Clinton's presidency for additional review, but they ended up going through following additional review.
If the NPS was posting disparaging pictures aimed at Trump, why shouldn't those pics be removed? That's a government account. I work for the State of California. If I sent out images or included anything critical of Governor Brown in my work emails, my rear would be toast, and it's not like I'm even reaching any kind of an audience. More appropriately, if the Director of the Department I worked for had disparaging or mocking images of Governor Brown on the Department's website, his rear would be toast before the end of the day. Then again, I can't imagine the Director of the department I work for being that silly, naïve, or unprofessional.
As far as the website changing, what would you expect with a new party in the White House? The White House website, essentially the president's website, changed drastically when Obama entered as well. The real questions and concerns should wait until the new policies are announced. Argue the merits of the pipelines, but focusing on media blackouts and changes to government websites is a bit of a tempest in a teapot. Then again, discussing what those pipelines mean would be a much more complicated matter not easily put into a 1,000 or less word article. So that's asking for a bit too much, I guess.

[Jimr]

I think a government agency social media account should not be the forum for op ed pieces, regardless of the issue or position. In that vein, I hope President Trump follows suit and discontinues (maybe he has, I don't know) tweeting his opinion around and sticks to official positions on government social media.

[LMBSGV]

This is going to be interesting as to how it plays out. Here's more:

[b]National Park Service staff step up campaign against Trump[/b]

Matthew Daly, Associated Press
January 25, 2017 Updated: January 25, 2017 12:11pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Park Service employees' Twitter campaign against President Donald Trump spread to other parks on Wednesday, with tweets on climate change and a reminder that Japanese Americans were forcibly interned in camps and parks during World War II.

A day after three climate-related tweets sent out by Badlands National Park were deleted, other park accounts have sent out tweets that appear to defy Trump. One, by Redwoods National Park in California, notes that redwood groves are nature's No. 1 carbon sink, which capture greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

"More redwoods would mean less #climatechange," the park said in a tweet.

Golden Gate National Park in California said in a tweet that 2016 was the hottest year on record for the third year in a row. The tweet directed readers to a report by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also known as NOAA

The tweets went beyond climate change.

Death Valley National Park tweeted photos of Japanese Americans interned there during World War II, a message that some saw as objecting to Trump's pledge to ban Muslims from entering the country and a proposal to restrict the flow of refugees to the United States.

A park service spokesman declined to comment Wednesday.

Three climate-related tweets sent out by the Badlands park account were deleted after they went viral on Twitter, sparking debate over whether the park was defying the Trump administration.

The South Dakota park posted tweets Tuesday that accurately quoted climate science data, including the current record-setting high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Trump has called climate change a hoax.

The tweets were shared thousands of times, and the Democratic National Committee circulated the message by email with the subject line "Resist."

That message — resist — was featured on massive banner unfurled atop a 270-foot construction crane blocks from the White House. A spokesman for the environmental group Greenpeace said protesters who climbed the crane to place the banner are encouraging resistance to Trump and his agenda, including executive orders signed Tuesday to boost the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, both of which were blocked by President Barack Obama.

The tweets by the park service accounts came after the Interior Department briefly suspended park service accounts and others run by Interior in response to photos retweeted by the park service during Trump's inauguration.

The photos contrasted turnout at Friday's inauguration with previous ceremonies. Trump has claimed without evidence that turnout at his event was larger than reported by news media.

The Interior accounts were reactivated the next day.

Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, a human rights organization, said Trump's order to build a wall on the Mexican border and restrict refugees from entering the country "marks one of the most hateful days in our nation's history."

Trump "is retracting the promise of American freedom to an extent we have not seen from a president since Franklin Roosevelt forced Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II," Goldstein said.

The Statue of Liberty — another national park — "weeps over President Trump's discrimination," Goldstein said.

[rlown]

How far down this rathole do you want to go on this website?

[Jimr]

+1

[LMBSGV]

Since my post was merely a news story related to Mavericks post of a news story regarding the Trump administration’s policies on the environment and the National Park Service (who administer most of the Sierra backcountry that is the subject of this website), I don’t see how it is going “down this rathole” unless you believe any post related to Trump policy towards the National Park Service, National Forest Service, and wilderness as “down this rathole.”

I think one function of High Sierra Topix is to provide its members with pertinent information related to government policy towards those agencies that administer the Sierra backcountry. I don’t think that should change simply because there is a new administration in Washington. I also do not think that it resembles political rants on bbbassecamp. Maverick’s post and mine merely were reprinting stories from reputable media sources. Any and all members of HST can form their own opinions regarding that information.

[maverick]

I think one function of High Sierra Topix is to provide its members with pertinent information related to government policy towards those agencies that administer the Sierra backcountry. I don’t think that should change simply because there is a new administration in Washington. I also do not think that it resembles political rants on bbbassecamp. Maverick’s post and mine merely were reprinting stories from reputable media sources. Any and all members of HST can form their own opinions regarding that information.

Just to be clear, my post is in no way politically motivated, nor will there be some political hellhole here, only posted this article because it is related to a National Park, period.

[Lumbergh21]

Since my post was merely a news story related to Mavericks post of a news story regarding the Trump administration’s policies on the environment and the National Park Service (who administer most of the Sierra backcountry that is the subject of this website), I don’t see how it is going “down this rathole” unless you believe any post related to Trump policy towards the National Park Service, National Forest Service, and wilderness as “down this rathole.”

I think one function of High Sierra Topix is to provide its members with pertinent information related to government policy towards those agencies that administer the Sierra backcountry. I don’t think that should change simply because there is a new administration in Washington. I also do not think that it resembles political rants on bbbassecamp. Maverick’s post and mine merely were reprinting stories from reputable media sources. Any and all members of HST can form their own opinions regarding that information.

What information related to government policy towards the NPS do these stories provide? This isn't like the discussion regarding killing of fish and all other aquatic life in select high sierra lakes using chemicals. There are no policies being discussed in either article as far as I can tell. Done with this BS and getting back to hiking.

[rlown]

Mods, or Admins, can we lock this and leave it?