You are browsing the archive for Tag: science and society - AGU Blogosphere.
18 March 2026
Ignoring Science Weakens Court Decisions: Reinstate Climate Science in the Federal Judicial Center’s Reference Manual
AGU decries the recent removal of a chapter on climate science from the 2025 4th edition of the Federal Judicial Center’s Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, particularly at a moment when judges are likely to encounter increasingly complex and critical issues related to climate change. The Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence is one of the judiciary’s most widely used resources for understanding complex scientific and technical issues. Without the climate science chapter, courts have fewer tools to interpret the scientific principles underlying …
18 February 2026
AGU mourns the passing of Michael McElroy, distinguished planetary and atmospheric scientist
It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of Dr. Michael McElroy, who died last month at the age of 86. Dr. McElroy was a towering figure in the Earth and space sciences—a brilliant atmospheric scientist whose contributions fundamentally shaped our understanding of planetary atmospheres, climate science, and environmental policy. His career spanned more than six decades of transformative work, from pioneering research on the atmospheres of Mars and Venus …
12 February 2026
AGU Denounces Trump Administration’s Repeal of the EPA Endangerment Finding
In 1856, American scientist Eunice Foote made history by publishing the first academic paper demonstrating that carbon dioxide traps heat from the Sun, a discovery that laid the foundation for climate science. Over the next 170 years, researchers have tested and built on that insight with the rigor of the scientific method, publishing hundreds of thousands of peer-reviewed studies that have not only affirmed Foote’s original finding but also revealed the grave consequences of unchecked greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding …
9 January 2026
AGU statement on U.S. withdrawal from climate and environmental organizations and treaties
The Trump Administration’s announcement that the United States will withdraw from a multitude of international organizations and treaties that support global cooperation on climate and environmental issues is a grievous setback at a moment when the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are only accelerating and when scientific expertise and collaboration are indispensable to addressing them. Some of these bodies and treaties form the backbone of international climate cooperation. At the center is the United Nations Framework Convention on …
2 June 2025
Forward with Purpose, Determined with Action
We have a promising update regarding the case for which AGU is one of the plaintiffs. In AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, et al., v. Donald J. Trump et al., Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted the request for a preliminary injunction, which blocks the government from executing any of their reduction-in-force (RIFs) and reorganization plans until the case comes to …
7 May 2025
AGU Board of Directors selects new Executive Director and CEO Janice R. Lachance
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Board of Directors and Executive Search Committee is pleased to announce AGU’s new Executive Director and CEO is Janice R. Lachance, J.D., Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (FASAE) and the National Academy of Public Administration. The Board of Directors and the Executive Search Committee believe Janice embodies the versatile leadership qualities and competencies required to lead AGU’s complex scientific enterprise into the …
29 April 2025
Who We Are, What We Fight For: AGU and the Administration’s First 100 Days
Today is Day 100 of the U.S. Administration. Media pundits, policymakers, and legal scholars are all marking this with a wide range of analysis and discussion. But we can also measure these first 100 days in actions of care, support, and leadership. AGU is committed to a global partnership that amplifies and supports science lifting the needs and voices of our members. Our approach these past 100 days is just …
24 April 2025
All in this Together: Protecting the Global Scientific Enterprise
AGU is a global community. Across 6 continents, in 200 countries and regions, we connect with one another, championing research, discovery, and solutions. Borders, languages, time zones, and customs might zig zag their way across our membership map, but science remains our guiding star and our uniting purpose. It’s even woven into an official AGU position statement: the Earth and space sciences are borderless and their data, a world heritage. …
21 April 2025
Remembering Pope Francis’ Climate Leadership
AGU mourns the passing of Pope Francis. A champion for people around the world, His Holiness staked out important new ground in spreading awareness, education and hope in facing the global climate crisis. Many actions by Pope Francis speak to his commitment to the climate issue. In 2015, in a first time papal encyclical on climate, Laudato Si, Pope Francis cited the vulnerability of poorer populations and nations to climate …
5 March 2025
The State of the Science Union
What You Didn’t Hear Last Night but Need to Know Last night, President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress. Titled “The Renewal of the American Dream,” there was heavy emphasis on the economy, border security, and foreign relations, but what you didn’t hear was the realities of a hollowing out of the federal workforce that has weakened critical scientific expertise, abdicated climate leadership, shrunk important research, and frozen global …
3 February 2025
Standing Together for Science: Supporting Our Community Amid Federal Funding Challenges
I am sharing an update to my January 27 From the Prow message regarding the Executive Orders and directives coming from the United States federal government and how they are affecting AGU’s members and the broader scientific community. We are requesting your input on how these federal directives have been impacting you and your work, as your shared experiences are vital to our advocacy efforts. Based on what we know …
