美国国家公共电台 NPR Climate Scientists Watch Their Words, Hoping To Stave Off Funding Cuts

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The Trump¹ administration has been openly hostile to climate science, pulling out of the Paris Agreement to cut greenhouse gases, cutting funding for climate research, scrubbing the term climate change from federal websites. Well, now NPR science reporter Rebecca Hersher is finding that some scientists are avoiding the word climate, and she's here to tell us more. Hey there, Becky.

REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE²: Hey.

GREENE: So what are you finding? What's going on here?

HERSHER: Well, scientists are avoiding the term climate change.

GREENE: Like, they're not using it in research papers or anywhere?

HERSHER: Well, they're not using it in grant proposals and summaries. So the number of National Science Foundation grants with that phrase, climate change, is down 40 percent this year. Some people are using alternative terms that aren't so politicized. Some people may be avoiding the subject altogether. Like, you're a scientist, you study climate change in groundwater. Maybe a couple of years ago, you applied³ for federal money. You called that grant proposal "Climate Change Effects On Aquifer⁴ Stability." Well, maybe now you call that "Environmental Change And Groundwater Trends."

GREENE: So why are they doing this? Are they hoping they have a better chance of getting funding from the Trump administration if they don't use this term?

HERSHER: Exactly. And in some cases, program managers may actually be encouraging scientists to do this. So these are the people at the National Science Foundation who interface⁵ with scientists. Those people may be trying to protect climate research the same way scientists are. So if an original proposal for funding may be still all about climate change, maybe the public summary that goes on the NSF website talks about extreme weather instead. And actually, not everyone thinks that that's a bad thing. Here's climate scientist Michael Dietze from Boston University.

MICHAEL DIETZE: Everyone I've talked to at NSF is committed to making sure climate science keeps getting done, but at the same time not turning yourself into a target unnecessarily.

HERSHER: You can call that self-preservation, you can call it self-censorship, but it all goes back to fear.

GREENE: And the NSF, we should say, gives a lot of these grants, and they are an arm of the government, right?

HERSHER: Exactly. And they're really the gold standard in terms of political independence. They do peer review. So if you want funding from the NSF, you go to a group of scientists first to decide how worthy⁶ your project is.

GREENE: So if they're politically independent, I mean, is there evidence that research using the term climate change is actually less likely to get funding from them?

HERSHER: There's no evidence that individual proposals to the NSF are living or dying according to the words climate change. But overall, funding is down for climate research. The president's budget, for example, singled out climate change programs by name. This is the only subject area that got singled out. And the number of requests for grant proposals about climate change has also gone down. So there is evidence that climate science is under fire, but there's no evidence that the process by which grants are being given has been politicized.

GREENE: Well, does the wording matter at all? I mean, in other words, like, if scientists are avoiding using the term climate change but still doing the same research, is that a big deal?

HERSHER: You know, that's the million-dollar question. It does matter in that if the words are changing that means it's politicized. And it's politicized, then some climate scientists may decide, you know, I'm better off in another field. These are people with marketable skills. You may decide, this is just too hard, I don't want to do these backflips, and go be a software engineer. You make a lot more money.

GREENE: NPR science reporter Rebecca Hersher. Becky, thanks.

HERSHER: Thanks.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 aquifer   

n.含水土层

参考例句：

• An aquifer is a water-bearing rock stratum such as sandstone and chalk.地下蓄水层是一些有水的岩石层，如沙岩和白垩岩。
• The wine region's first water came from an ancient aquifer.用来灌溉这个地区葡萄园的第一批水来自古老的地下蓄水层。

5 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

6 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。