The Man Who Arrived From Inside: Trump's War on Science

If this interview had been published in The Guardian, I probably wouldn't have picked it up for a recommendation here. The story is well known, and if E&E News wasn't relatively obscure, you would probably stumble upon it in your Facebook or Twitter feeds. But that wasn't the case, and this is a rare opportunity to meet the embodiment of Trump's backlash against science.

After Donald Trump took office last year, the White House started an unprecedented war against scientific knowledge. From censoring terms such as "climate change" or "fetus" to gutting agencies such as the EPA, Trump's team members are clearly not convinced by facts. And the staff is noticing it, so much that French president Emmanuel Macron even started luring them to Europe.

This is an interview with Joel Clement, who was the top climate policy advisor at the US Interior Department. He resigned in October, after being reassigned, along with many other career scientists at the department, in a move that may have been politically motivated. Today, he's the voice of those who feel that the US government can't afford to lose track of important climate change data and knowledge.

"Your work is your work. You follow a process and the scientific method and that remains absolutely essential to that work, but that doesn't mean you don't have a personal right and responsibility to bear witness to things that are inappropriate." Clement said. "In this case, the Trump administration, I think more people should be doing it and I hope they do."

Clement is an important character of our times, and he represents many others, so this interview is not completely personal. It's a statement. True: It could be a bit longer and ask more details about the life "inside", but for me, it has been refreshing to meet this man who came from within.

"I've been given this platform through their own incompetence. I'm going to use it as much as I can."