Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired recently, potentially increasing risk of being let go.
Umair Irfan – a science correspondent for Climate Change, Energy Policy, and VOX – has focused specifically on recent looming layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). His report presents a great lens to understand firing, and he and I discussed how NOAA will teach us about the impact that NOAA has on Americans every day. The conversations edited for length and clarity can be found below.
Hmm, what is NOAA and why is it so important?
NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He is responsible for developing weather forecasts for the US, conducting oceanographic and atmospheric research, and developing long-term climate and weather models. He is also responsible for promoting fisheries and commerce, especially in the ocean. This means that there is a lot of navigation and mapping work involved in shipping and offshore oil and gas drilling.
There have been reports that half of NOAA staff could be denied. What will everyday Americans lose if that happens?
NOAA has around 12,000 staff, most of which are scientists and engineers. If we lose half of that, many people who do a lot of research informing us of weather forecasts and weather understanding, as well as industry players, will lose a lot of data they rely on for aviation, air travel, and more. They also lost much of their emergency forecasting capabilities for extreme weather.
NOAA is one of the reasons air travel is so safe and one of the reasons we saw fewer people dying in natural disasters in the United States. He has dived into oceans and hurricanes and has developed superior forecasting capabilities using decades of data collection.
Losing all these functions will result in many of the progress that has been made. However, extreme weather remains dangerous and the ability to promote the risks associated with the weather will ultimately diminish if we continue to invest in it.
NOAA is clearly not the only agent facing a cut here. dO Americans get something by reducing government like Trump?
Staff and leaders of current and former agency said Cuts would not help the agency achieve its mission. Not optimal.
That said, there will always be room for optimizing large institutions like government. But we need to do so with thoughtfulness, seeing what our needs are and what our expectations are from the government in general.
Specifically, when you look at agents like NOAA, you need to carefully consider exactly how the core functionality is fulfilled, where it is lacking, and where it can be enhanced. So far, we have not actually seen that level of research and interest in how these institutions work from the current administration.
The big picture, what do you think Americans should learn from the NOAA case study?
I think it's easy to forget that the federal government is everywhere in our country. That means 80% of federal employees are not in DC.
NOAA is one of the institutions that have a very far-flung footprint. Because a lot of local research and data must be collected on-site, and its mission is to protect the entire country.
And NOAA, like all institutions, is very closely linked to people's lives in ways they don't expect. You may not have a NOAA app on your phone, but perhaps the weather app you have, and the predictions you have from your local TV meteorologist will be notified by NOAA satellites and data collection .
There may be a layer between the products you consume and the government, but it provides the foundation for what we take for granted. If an agency like NOAA leaves, we will definitely lose what we may not expect.
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