Is Data the Issue?

 Harrison Teele

12 March 2025

HST401 - Seminar in Science Writing

Professor Horgan


Is Data the Issue?


Since 1880, global temperatures have risen 1.5 C. Sea levels have risen 4 inches since 1993. The oceans had an increase of 127 zetajoules of heat since 2010. All of this is staggering data and should be worrisome to anyone. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collect incredible data on environmental shifts and climate change, with billions of dollars in federal funding being put towards their efforts. Climate change has been a sort-of “doomsday” topic for decades, with scientists and politicians seeking to reverse the damage we have done to our planet before we are too far gone. Talks of sea level rise and rising greenhouse gas emissions have proliferated in the media, citing observations from NASA and NOAA. With these organizations delivering strong evidence of worsening climate change, why do we not see more major reform in politics and activism? 


NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) was allocated about $2.4 billion by the federal government in 2024. From this budget, ESTO developed their New Observing Strategies initiative. This program aimed to foster “real-time understanding…situational awareness…planning and learning experience” (Le Moigne et al.)  from observations of natural disasters and climate events. I was fortunate enough to be part of the NOS research, being involved in the development of a real-time simulation of Earth’s satellites and their reaction times to environmental impacts. In our research we came across enormous datasets from NOAA and NASA describing wildfire activity, worsening rainfall, and other events attributed to climate change. Through precise simulations and other NOS developments such as satellite constellations, the program has led to a deeper understanding of our impact on the climate. Simulations such as NASA’s Eyes on the Earth displays current information on global air temperatures, CO2 levels, and many other environmental impacts. 


NASA’s Eyes on the Earth Simulation

Users can see recent data of important climate information around the globe


The data collected by these organizations are crucial to understanding our impact on the planet, and it seems like this would be an essential step to passing legislation to prevent further damage.


Despite this data being publicly accessible, why do transformative climate policies seem to stall in politics? Climate legislation has certainly been passed, such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, which is one of the largest climate bills passed by the United States. This bill aims to “reduce U.S. emissions in 2035 to an average of 20 percent below what they would be without the IRA” (Nostrand, 2023). The IRA cites multiple organizations research for the legislation such as EPA and independent research, however other climate legislation does not seem to rest upon current efforts by NASA and NOAA who make data readily available. 


Do climate scientists and researchers focus too much on data and observation, rather than activism and policy change? It seems that those who push these policies such as the IRA are lawmakers and politicians, who are not on the frontlines of the research and data collection. Those who are on the forefront of climate observation should be more prominent in their activism, taking advantage of their observations and present any data as undeniable.


NOAA is a prominent organization that pushes for policy change, with their annual State of the Climate. They consolidate their yearly observations into a peer-reviewed publication that is easy to digest for the public, highlighting the most worrisome climate trends of the year. The 2023 publication highlighted record low Arctic sea ice and record high greenhouse gas emissions just to name a few. Just as scientists could be more proactive in delivering this information to our legislatures, our politicians need to maintain bipartisan recognition of climate change.


With recent nominations of climate change deniers in the Trump administrations and a maintained partisanship over the topic, the future for our planet seems bleak. There is truly groundbreaking science taking place in efforts to observe and prevent climate change, however science can only take us so far. Legislation is a critical next step in addressing our climate, and researchers could present their undeniable evidence in the form of more direct activism. The data presents an obvious problem, and only through policy reform can we fix our growing climate crisis.
























Works Cited

“BAMS State of the Climate.” National Centers for Environmental Information, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/bams-state-of-climate#:~:text=The%20State%20of%20the%20Climate%20report%20is%20a%20peer%2Dreviewed,report%20is%20also%20available%20online.&text=Past%20Bulletin%20of%20American%20Meteorological,as%20author%20tools%20and%20informat.

“Climate Change.” NASA Science, https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/. Accessed 11 March 2025.

“Eyes on the Earth - NASA/JPL.” NASA's Eyes, https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/earth/#/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/oco-2-carbon-observatory-16day. Accessed 11 March 2025.

Le Moigne, Jacqueline, et al. “NEW OBSERVING STRATEGY (NOS) FOR FUTURE EARTH SCIENCE MISSIONS.” NASA Technical Reports Server, NASA, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190028350/downloads/20190028350.pdf.

Nostrand, Eric Von, and Arik Levinson. “The Inflation Reduction Act: Pro-Growth Climate Policy.” US Department of the Treasury, 13 November 2023, https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-inflation-reduction-act-pro-growth-climate-policy.

“President's NASA FY 2025 Funding Supports US Space, Climate Leadership.” NASA, 11 March 2024, https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/presidents-nasa-fy-2025-funding-supports-us-space-climate-leadership/. Accessed 11 March 2025.

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