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Dear Colleagues,

We are living in an era where we must prepare for another dramatic pendulum swing in public policy. For those of you in federal government this is a known anxiety-provoker.

I worked at the EPA through multiple presidential transitions, including from President Obama to President Trump in 2017, and again the transition to President Biden in 2021. In this second Trump administration we know to expect attacks on federal science and federal scientists thanks to the President’s track record and his second campaign’s promises. Plus, there is the Project 2025 manifesto that lays out the plans of the new administration to repeal the gains made over the past four years and halt efforts to combat human-caused climate change and environmental damages alongside their inherent social inequities.

One of the pillars of the cynical Project 2025 agenda is to attack the underpinnings of federally funded science. Another is to attack the very people who work in regulatory programs of administrative agencies. I recall experiencing that jarring shift eight years ago. I wondered anxiously just how I might make it through. Many of my work friends in federal government found other work during the following years. I somehow stuck it out and have many lessons learned from that period.

What’s best for you is a very individual decision, but here are seven lessons I learned over the years as a federal employee.

1. Know you have allies in the NGO community who are cheering you on.

During the first Trump administration, I recall receiving postcards from random strangers thanking me for my public service. I realize now those postcard campaigns were organized by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like UCS. I also remember seeing small First Amendment-protected acts, such as signs hanging in individual’s office space that said, “No Sides in Science.” The signs came from a Save Science rally organized by the NGO community. Seeing these cheered me up.

2. Tune out the noise and don’t overreact to the hype.

Much of the hype in the mainstream media is exactly that. Even if you get your information from independent media or social media, it can be deafening to consume too much. One lesson from the prior Trump administration is how much bluster there was that didn’t come to pass. Do not despair pre-emptively.

3. Understand the motivations of political appointees in your agency.

Each political appointee will have some power and an ego to satisfy. They will need to negotiate with other appointees who have their own interests and levers of power. While there will be memos from on-high, such as orders to reduce staff, agency appointees will also have to make good on requests by stakeholders with influence in the political context of your agency. We know, for example, that during the first Trump administration some industries needed permits issued, so those industries argued in favor of keeping relevant staff at EPA. Also, local businesses supported maintaining programs that offered community redevelopment opportunities, including brownfields and Superfund site cleanup. After all, it does take a clean, healthy, thriving environment to run a successful business. And, thriving local economies make good news.

4. Don’t be a mind-reader.

If there is a mandate from above, it should come in writing. Based on what I saw in the last go-around, agency leaders will try to avoid written records. If they don’t send a memo or email instruction, you have the power to send a summary of their instructions via email and make a note for the record. 

5. Use the rules to your advantage.

There are laws that lay out the protocols and steps that government functions, including regulatory decisionmaking, should take. For example, government analyses need to be documented for the administrative record. And, many governmental functions require involved officials to adhere to ethics rules. Be it the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, the Information Quality Act, or the Evidence Act—all those laws were created to keep meticulous account of the work of government. This is important for the long game and in cases where the Freedom of Information Act could be used to demonstrate instances of political interference or censorship.

6. Know the union resources and support that are available to you.

Much of the bluster we are hearing is about attacks on staff through changes to workplace conditions. Use your union contacts, even if you aren’t part of the union, to understand what is within bounds and what flexibilities you have. Demand those flexibilities before giving up on your job in the federal government.

7. Know your labor rights.

You have rights under federal labor laws. Make sure you understand those rights and your agency’s policies, including equal employment opportunity protections based on race, national origin, gender, and sexual orientation. There are organizations, like the Government Accountability Project, with lawyers on standby to support individuals who expect targeting.

I hope these seven lessons may be of some comfort to you during the coming months and years. In addition, here at UCS we have compiled this list of resources for federal science workers and have launched our Save Science, Save Lives campaign. We are actively working to ensure that senators ask President Trump’s cabinet nominees during their confirmation hearings about their plans for protecting science and scientific integrity. You can urge your senator to do so today.

I moved on from federal government two years ago. I continue to recognize the deep value of federal science and the system of regulations that were set up to protect those most vulnerable to the excesses of our socio-political system. This new administration has a particular view that is expected to attack the foundation of scientific integrity. We at UCS know this, and we stand ready to support those of you who want to keep your position in federal institutions. Not everyone may. We understand and respect that choice as well.

In solidarity,

Chitra

Altadena’s Village Playgarden education center served diverse families with outdoor classrooms, small farm and animals – till it was destroyed by flames

In Altadena, it had become the hot ticket among the preschool set.

But when Geoff and Kikanza Ramsey-Ray first bought the two-acre property at the edge of town in 2008, it was a shambles. The home was a rental for over 30 years and the grounds were woefully neglected. Yet the couple saw promise. Nestled against Angeles Crest national forest, with a mountain view and on a road with few other homes, the place felt protected and perfect for their vision: an early education center called Village Playgarden.

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Some say Trump part two needs a new strategy as ‘the novelty of mass mobilization has kind of worn off’

Prominent leftwing activists across the US say a second Trump administration demands new tactics to achieve their goals, amid expectations the huge protests that marked both the Biden and first Trump presidencies won’t materialize in the same way.

As many as 4.6 million people attended Women’s Day marches in the US the day after Donald Trump’s first inauguration. The Saturday before Trump was inaugurated for a second time, thousands turned out in Washington DC and in cities around the country as part of the People’s March, this year’s version of the Women’s March – though the turnout was much smaller than in 2017.

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Several large U.S. financial institutions, including the Federal Reserve, have withdrawn from the networks after years of growing political and legal pressure.

Unlike tariffs, a new form of protectionism could target climate-wrecking, untaxed corporations and their billionaire owners

• Gabriel Zucman is a French economist

How should Europe respond before Donald Trump’s policies destabilise the global economy? All countries will soon have to take a stand on the new US president’s tariff threats. While a shift away from free trade clearly carries risks, it also presents a valuable opportunity to reimagine our outdated international economic relations – if we can grasp what makes this moment unique.

In many ways, Trump’s economic agenda follows the Republican party playbook that dates back to Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential run, which launched the party’s enduring mission to dismantle Roosevelt’s New Deal. Trump claims the US was never better off than under William McKinley’s presidency (1897-1901), when the federal government, before income tax existed, was pared down to a minimum.

Gabriel Zucman is professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics and École normale supérieure – PSL, and founding director of the EU Tax Observatory

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At least we have TikTok back

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The global south needs a fairer deal than this one, in which it funds the lifestyle and wealth of the global north

The World Bank calculated last month that the rich world earned more than $1.4tn (£1.15tn) in loan repayments from the developing world in 2023, with the sums likely to top $2tn a year by 2030. Rich countries have in effect become the world’s bankers, squeezing debtors in the global south. Poorer nations are forced to borrow in rich-world currencies to pay for their energy and food, while their exports consist mainly of low-value goods compared with their imports.

Colonial patterns of extraction plainly did not disappear with the withdrawal of troops, flags and bureaucrats. Whether a debt crisis in the developing world occurs depends on decisions beyond its control. The risk increases if US interest rates rise and if poor nations’ exports – often priced by commodity speculators or wealthy-world buyers – fail to generate enough dollar reserves to stabilise their exchange rates.

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Some more realistic ways to think about the challenges ahead.

Shifting responsibility to consumers minimises the role of energy industry and policymakers, University of Sydney research suggests

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It’s not unusual to see individuals championed as heroes of climate action, with their efforts to install rooftop solar and buy electric cars promoted as pivotal in the fight to save the planet.

Hero figures can motivate others to follow suit, but a University of Sydney study suggests the way the energy sector shapes this narrative sets individuals up to fail.

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Somini Sengupta, a Times climate reporter, reflects on a city, its mythology and a reckoning with disaster.

Environmentalists are braced for new construction on the president’s signature border wall – and the damage that would wreak

During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, he began an ambitious and costly border militarization program, including the construction of over 450 miles of wall that severed wildlife corridors and fragmented ecosystems in some of the country’s most remote and biodiverse regions. With his second inauguration on Monday, environmentalists are bracing for any new phase of construction that could exacerbate the ecological toll of the border wall.

“It’s an absolute travesty and a disaster for border wildlife,” said Margaret Wilder, a human-environment geographer and political ecologist at the University of Arizona, regarding the environmental impact of the existing border wall and the prospect of renewed construction. She said the wall harmed efforts “after many decades of binational cooperation between the US and Mexico to protect this fragile and biodiverse region. I don’t think Americans realize what is at stake.”

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You don’t need to settle for what your insurance company or the government first offers. And you don’t have to fight alone.

The central bank said it had decided to leave the network after the group’s work “increasingly broadened in scope.”

A new U.S. president’s promise to expand fossil fuels that is at odds with global ambitions to combat climate change will be a topic of discussion at the World Economic Forum.

Hunger and hope in Gaza, fires in California and the Australian Open in Melbourne: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

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Agencies and unions have put in place new guardrails designed to limit political interference in government research.

As fires set LA ablaze, some houses are left standing amid ashes thanks to concrete walls, class A wood – and luck

When last week’s fires in Los Angeles set parts of the city ablaze, one viral image was of a lone house in Pacific Palisades that was left standing while all of the homes around it were destroyed.

Architect Greg Chasen said luck was the main factor in the home’s survival, but the brand-new build had some design features that also helped: a vegetation-free zone around the yard fenced off by a solid concrete perimeter wall, a metal roof with a fire-resistant underlayment, class A wood and a front-gabled design without multiple roof lines.

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As the known drinking water nerd amongst my friend group, I have been informally fielding questions about whether their water is safe to use near the wildfires in Southern California. Some common questions I’ve heard include: How do I know if I can drink the tap water? Can I shower with it? When will it be safe? Beyond more generally getting the facts right on the water and wildfire issues in California, as this Guardian headline suggests, it’s smart to assume the worst about the safety of drinking water in and throughout the immediate aftermath of devastating disasters like the Los Angeles fires.

Why be concerned about the safety of your drinking water after a major fire?

As colleagues so comprehensively explained in their “Wildfire and Water Supply in California” report, there are a lot of pathways by which a wildfire can make your tap water unsafe (and a lot of great ideas on how to adapt to this growing challenge). In Northern California, the Tubbs Fire’s effects on Santa Rosa in 2017 and the Camp Fire, which burned the entire town of Paradise only a year later, were among the first wildfires known to cause widespread drinking water contamination in cities.

Wildfires in forests and wildfires in urban areas have different consequences. Alarmingly, after the Tubbs and Camp Fires, researchers found evidence of post-fire contamination from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene, which is carcinogenic, and also from heavy metals, microbes and other contaminants that pose both immediate and long term public health risks. As fossil-fueled fires get worse, tap water contamination concern grows. Drinking water may not be safe for months, depending on the severity of the damage.

To name a few ways water can be contaminated post-fire:

• Incineration of urban infrastructure—houses, buildings, electric wires, etc.—leaches toxic chemicals not only into our air but when hot enough, can melt the underground pipe network that deliver drinking water.
  
• Toxic runoff from the combination of burnt infrastructure, any fire retardant that has been dropped and water to fight the fires, infiltrates into the ground and any stormwater system.
  
• Any disconnection or disruption to an otherwise closed loop treated drinking water distribution system creates risks of contamination.
  
• Distribution network depressurization may also allow for contaminant transport between differently impacted parts of the distribution system.

I live in or near a fire-impacted community, what should I do?

Figure out who your water provider is if you don’t know. Community water systems provide drinking water for most Californians, and there are a few tools to consult to identify your water system:

• The Community Water Center’s Drinking Water Tool, features an address-based search tool available in Spanish or English.
  
• For residents of LA County, the UCLA LA County Water System Governance Map, shows the service areas for more than 200 systems in the county, and is available in Spanish or English.
  
• The state regulatory agency for drinking water maintains a Human Right to Water Portal, which is also address based and includes not only community systems, but also the schools and daycares responsible for complying with safe drinking water standards.  

Then, check your water provider’s website for any advisories like “do not use”, “boil water”, or “‘do not drink”’ notices. (Learn more from the CDC about the difference between them). Depending on the contamination issue, and unless advised by your water provider, it’s unlikely that you can self-treat the water to make it safe by boiling, filtering, adding chlorine or other disinfectants etc.

Check out the LAist Cheat Sheet which compiled thorough FAQ for LA area residents, including how to understand different advisory types, where to get replacement bottled water and your local water provider’s phone number to get your questions answers.

Areas affected by Do-Not-Drink-Water notifications and other water advisories are dynamic. Large water providers like Pasadena Water and Power and LA Department of Water and Power are actively testing and working to get water back to regulatory standards. Smaller systems may have a harder time recovering.

The above concerns and suggested steps are focused on the safety of the tap water being delivered to your house and do not address very real concerns due to on-site contamination from damaged infrastructure on private property. Always review official resources for those impacted by the LA Fires: https://www.ca.gov/LAfires/.

I have a domestic well, what should I do?

If you are not in the service area of a community water system, your house may have a private domestic well. All the fire-related toxic substances infiltrate the soil and reach our groundwater, they contaminate it with dangerous substances that any added chlorine or household point-of-use filters may not remove. That translates to a higher level of pollutants in our tap water, especially when fires occur near a drinking water well.

Domestic well owners are responsible for managing their own water quality, even when impacted by events outside their control. While a brand new law now requires landlords to ensure their rental properties’ wells are tested, there is no state agency that regulates domestic well water quality they way they do for water systems.

Some ideas on how to learn about the safety of your tap water:

• Assess your well if impacted by wildfire, considering using the CDC’s rapid assessment form
  
• Review the SWRCB’s Guide for Well Owners and Well Testing Program Directory, and search by your county to see if which programs are available in your area.
  
• Follow the CDC’s checklist depending on issues experienced from loss of power, to loss of pressure and hire licensed professionals to repair or replace damaged components.
  
• If your house also has a septic tank, check for any signs of damage that could cause issues for indoor plumbing or domestic well contamination.
  
• Review official state resources for those impacted by the LA Fires: https://www.ca.gov/LAfires/

Not impacted by the fires, but want to help? Fire recovery will be a long process, and donations of critical supplies like bottled water will be needed long after the media moves on from this disaster. Find a trusted local organization, like the Pasadena Jobs Center, an organization coordinating volunteers on the ground and recommended by a friend who grow up in Altadena and lost their family home in the Eaton fire. Consider directly supporting mutual aid groups now and in the coming months.

President-elect Trump’s threats to swiftly implement a policy of mass deportation for immigrants in the United States without legal status, as well as end programs that provide lawful temporary protected status for many immigrants, are inhumane. Immigrant rights groups and legal experts have rightly sounded the alarm and are working actively to fight back and resist these actions, which could be announced on Day 1 of the Trump presidency. All of us—whether we or our families, friends and community members are directly impacted or not—have a stake in understanding why these policies are so harmful, morally reprehensible, and have no place in a democracy.

We in the US are part of a country whose history and present-day social and economic realities are deeply intertwined with and built on the experiences of immigrants, enslaved African Americans, and Indigenous peoples. Owning that history—the good and the bad—is a crucial part of what it means to be an American. And it’s the first step in charting a path to a better, fairer future for our country.

The current US system of immigration is clearly broken, and across the political spectrum there is a recognition that reforms are urgently needed. I am not an immigration expert so I will not opine here on the details of those reforms.

What is clear—or should be clear—to all of us is that if we arbitrarily judge some immigrants to be “better” than others, we will inevitably risk reinforcing a system that is based on biased and unequal power and economic structures that are pervasive in the world today. All too often, current legal pathways to immigration privilege a subset of people while shutting out many who work equally hard and are equally deserving.

As my colleague Karen Perry Stillerman points out, in addition to being morally repugnant, mass deportation programs would have a significant negative impact on our nation’s food system, which could not function without the labor of immigrants.

As another example, as extreme weather and climate-related disasters mount across our nation, it is often immigrants who help to do the difficult and dangerous work of cleaning up debris and rebuilding homes and infrastructure as quickly as possible. As a recent news article points out:

“The fact is that the people who rebuild those areas—from Palisades to Malibu to Altadena—it’s immigrant construction crews,” said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “They’re the ones who are the second responders.”

Unfortunately, climate and fossil fuel-driven disasters are also contributing to a growing toll on people across the world, destabilizing economies, threatening livelihoods, health, water supplies, and food security. If we fail to sharply curtail heat-trapping emissions and invest in climate resilience, the numbers of people suffering harm will rise steeply, and many might even find themselves forcibly displaced both at home and abroad.

Rich nations like the United States (which is the leading historical contributor to global heat-trapping emissions) have the capacity and the responsibility to advance resilience at home and provide climate finance to help lower-income nations transition quickly to renewable energy and adapt to climate change. They also have a responsibility to help address climate loss and damage and displacement with a human rights-centered approach.

Hateful political rhetoric from President-elect Trump and his allies that demonizes and dehumanizes immigrants shows political leaders who are more interested in scoring cheap political points through fearmongering and fanning the flames of xenophobia, rather than acknowledging the basic humanity and incredible contributions of immigrants to our economy and our society.

This is not a new tactic. Across history, here in the United States and abroad, in uncertain economic times, extremists have often targeted immigrants and made harmful and deceptive claims blaming them for all the ills in society. Punching down, further marginalizing those who are fearful and may not have access to resources to defend themselves, is also a classic tactic of bullies and doesn’t solve the urgent problems facing our nation and our planet.

It’s up to all of us to stand up for the facts and stop allowing politicians to misuse the important issue of immigration policy to spew hateful lies as a convenient way to further their narrow interests. Mass detention and deportations will tear apart families, cause lasting trauma and harm, and set back health and education in immigrant communities especially for children, alongside undermining the the U.S. economy.  

We all know instinctively that leaving one’s familiar home and embarking on a dangerous journey to a faraway place, with very few resources and no guarantee of safety, is often an act of desperation—especially when bringing children. But for luck, this could be the plight of anyone in any country around the world.

Seeing our shared humanity and acting based on that principle is the best path forward on immigration and for our country of immigrants.  

Here are some resources to learn more. Please share them with anyone who needs them.

• American Civil Liberties Union: Know Your Rights/Immigrants’ Rights
• National Immigration Law Center: Know Your Rights: What to do if You Are Arrested or Detained by Immigration
• National Immigrant Justice Center: Know Your Rights: If You Encounter ICE