One of the things Trump first did as President of the United States is to stop officials and government staff (including scientists) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from speaking out publicly. This, combined with his appointment of known climate change denier Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA, has many people concerned about censorship and political interference in the sciences.
The implication of this gag order is that since scientists and experts cannot share information they gather about the climate and the environment to the public, then the Trump administration can get away with their insistence that global warming is not real and successfully trample efforts being made to preserve the environment in favor of building more factories for big companies.
But here’s the silver lining in this terribly concerning news: there are US government employees actively defying Trump’s gag order. It started when an anonymous employee of the Badlands National Park tweeted 4 facts about climate change after Trump ordered a ban on all Twitter activity on National Parks Service accounts. The ban was put in place after several agencies tweeted pictures comparing the massive crowd from Obama’s inauguration to that of Trump’s relatively sparse audience. Here’s what that looks like, by the way:
The tweet has been deleted, but thousands of people saw and retweeted it before it was taken down, praising the anonymous employee for their bravery:
Godspeed, Badlands National Park social media manager. May thousands more follow your example. pic.twitter.com/3YGzZ9hqJw
— Kelsey D. Atherton (@AthertonKD) January 24, 2017
These tweets were followed by creations of ‘alt’ Twitter accounts @AltNatParkSer, @altUSEPA, and most recently, @RogueNASA. All three accounts are defined as the “unofficial ‘Resistance’ team” of those agencies and urged people to follow them for “real news, real facts”. They are free to denounce Trump’s ban because they are not affiliated with the federal government, unlike the official accounts of the agencies. The handlers of Rogue Nasa explain the reason they created the account in their tweets:
Science is not a partisan issue. Science is the foundation of our society—we owe so much to peer-reviewed scientific research. #resist
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 26, 2017
Science deniers are dangerous. The impact of climate change is real. There are consequences for infrastructure and human life. #resist
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017
They even shut down a Trump supporter that labeled them as fake news:
Awww that's cute. We have data on our side. What do you have? Cheetos? https://t.co/EVhXFEfdm7
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017
All three accounts post facts about climate change in an effort to resist the present administration.
Can't wait for President Trump to call us FAKE NEWS.
You can take our official twitter, but you'll never take our free time!
— AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017
It is implied in their tweets that the accounts are handled by government employees, but they don’t intend to reveal their identities:
Rogue Twitter accounts are fun, but gov't employees and scientists are very afraid of being fired if they speak out & share facts. #resist
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017
How sad is it that government employees have to create rogue Twitter accounts just to communicate FACTS to the American public?
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017
We're sorry, but we do not feel it is safe or in the public interest to identify ourselves. We have been advised of this by svl journalists. https://t.co/9z0QEKpNNe
— AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 26, 2017
The three accounts are already followed by thousands of people who expressed their support to the people behind it:
@RogueNASA Heroes, all of you. #resist
— Anita Creamer (@AnitaCreamer) January 25, 2017
@RogueNASA @AltNatParkSer Let's go pic.twitter.com/HmKBXgfycE
— Charlie Brandt (@charliebrandt09) January 25, 2017
@AltNatParkSer Trust ,me. We are paying attention.
— YasmineGalenorn (@YasmineGalenorn) January 25, 2017
