Climate Science 'Brain Drain' Speeds Up in Trump Era

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“Wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility. Make our planet great again.”

Those were the words of French President Emmanuel Macron back in June, with a message for Americans and the world after President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.

In response to that move, this week President Macron granted 18 climate scientists long-term research grants to carry out their work in France. Of these so-called “Make the Planet Great Again” grants, 13 went to U.S.-based scientists.

Thousands of researchers expressed interest, and that’s no big surprise. There’s been a steady lack of funding for climate science over several presidential administrations, and it’s getting worse under Trump. That means fewer permanent research positions, while the number of postdoctoral students keeps growing.

Now, we’re seeing other countries — like France — looking to take advantage of our surplus of scientists. Could that mean a significant climate science “brain drain” in the U.S.?

As part of our “New Credentials” series with The Joyce Foundation, where we look at the future of work and education, we spoke with two people with views on all this: Sean Mowbray is a journalist based in Switzerland who has written about this brain drain for the environmental news site Mongabay, and Tripti Bhattacharya is a postdoctoral climate scientist at the University of Arizona.

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich