A former Trump science adviser, literally made redundant, wrote a resignation letter whose first letter of each paragraph spelled out IMPEACH. Now he’s speaking out, saying that his letter wasn’t a joke and offering a bit more detail about why he thinks the president has to go.
His argument for Trump impeachment
“I was quite serious,” says Dan Kammen, a science envoy who quit his post because of the Trump’s response to Charlottesville, in an interview with Vox. “I couldn’t work for a president who is directing us away from international partnerships such as Paris climate accord, away from civility, by not condemning racism at home, clearly and forcefully. The reason I embedded ‘impeach’ in my message is, as a private citizen, I don’t even think there’s room to debate that Mr. Trump is putting his own business and personal interests over that of the country.”
Science has taken a back seat in the Trump administration: The president pulled the nation out of the Paris Climate Agreement, the words “climate change” have been scrubbed from the White House website, and the Environmental Protection Agency has seen its staff reduced amid the president’s plan to enact environmental deregulations.
Kammen was named science envoy by President Obama, a newly created position. During his time in the job, the Californian created a model that would allow California to operate on 100 percent renewable energy by 2045, and he believes that the state will achieve its goal of a million electric cars by 2020. He was particularly frustrated by the administration’s embrace of coal and fossil fuels over renewable energy and the often absurdly retrograde views of the right wing.
“You get ridiculously silly arguments against [renewables],” he said. “Last week, during the eclipse, I got messages from conservative utilities and right-wing groups saying, oh, well, this demonstrates the infeasibility of solar. I said, “have you ever heard of nighttime?”
His biggest concern is that momentum toward renewable fuels — and the corresponding positive effect on climate change — may stall or reverse, hard-fought gains crushed under the Trump administration’s will. “I actually think that — while 10 years ago, climate change was almost insurmountable, and it’s still a huge challenge — I would argue that greed and inequality have replaced climate change as the impossible problem,” he says.
