Trump’s impact on science
Recent executive orders affect us all. What can Canadians do?
As I write this at the end of February, science journals are full of the consequences of the Trump administration’s actions on science in the United States and elsewhere. With the pace of changes and the court cases launched, it is not clear what the situation will be when you read this, but whatever happens, the science landscape is being radically transformed. While American science has blessed the world with things like life-saving vaccines, taken us to the moon and given us the transistor and the integrated circuit on a chip, how it will emerge from Trump’s changes remains to be seen.
Worldwide health threats
On the first day of his administration, Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization (WHO). In the face of the Los Angeles fires – the latest demonstration of the consequences of our human-induced climate change – the “drill baby drill” president is choosing to make the world less safe for our children and grandchildren. While there has been remarkable progress on greener energy technologies, it appears this progress will be impeded going forward. The withdrawal from WHO makes it likely that the next pandemic will be noticed much more slowly, with dangerous consequences.
Next came defunding many agencies and programs supporting health and science worldwide. In the courts, people are fighting the order to defund the U.S. Agency for International Development, which supports programs to combat diseases like malaria and AIDS as well as drug trials to fight Ebola. Diseases do not respect borders (remember Covid?), so these actions will make us all less safe. In addition, many agencies that fund science are seeing cuts to their budgets and staffing.
God’s world is in his hands, not the hands of an American president
Marginalized, again
Finally, words matter, and Trump has tried to further marginalize people who are in difficult places, like trans youth, by saying there are only two sexes and that all use of other terms should be prevented. Apparently, even terminology like a “pregnant person” is not to be used. Alongside efforts to stamp out equity, diversity and inclusion programs, this will make the United States a more dangerous place for everyone who is not a white male. All this sounds like old efforts to make pi equal to three: God’s world is just not this simple.
Time to shoulder up
As Canadians, we can only watch from the sidelines, and there are other economic actions by Trump that our leaders are addressing. But this may be a good time to reverse the brain drain we have seen in the past and build up our scientific community in Canada. It may also be necessary to shoulder more responsibility for world and Canadian health by increasing our support of WHO and being more generous with our foreign aid.
As Christians, we should increase our efforts to welcome the stranger and protect the widow, those marginalized in Jesus’ time. We must hold on to the truth about God’s creation and recognize that God’s world is in his hands, not the hands of an American president. As one of our doctrinal statements says, “Our world belongs to God.”
