title:  Republicans Attack NASA For Trying To Save Earth Instead Of Putting Space First
text: Republicans don t seem to understand that Earth is the planet we live on.Donald Trump and his Republicans supporters in Congress are taking aim at any agency that studies climate change.Climate change has had a devastating impact on our planet. The ice sheets are melting as an unprecedented rate and sea level rise threatens to drown our coastlines, which includes Trump s Mar-a-Lago resort at Palm Beach, Florida.Furthermore, weather patterns have become more unpredictable and we are seeing more instances of major disastrous hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, etc Whether Republicans like it or not, humans have been the driving force behind climate change, and it will get even worse since Trump is giving oil, gas, coal and chemical companies the freedom to pollute more than ever before. Soon, our cities will be choked by smog and our waterways will be poisoned as global temperatures continue to rise because of all the carbon we pump into the air.That s why NASA s Earth Science Division exists to track and study climate change in order to find ways to slow it down or stop it and reverse it so that future generations of the human race can continue living on the planet. After all, we only have one planet to live on.But Republicans like Rep. Lamar Smith think NASA should make space their top priority even though Earth is far more important because without it we wouldn t be alive, and thus, unable to explore the universe.Smith wants to cut Earth Science from NASA s budget in an effort to stop the science agency from studying climate change. By rebalancing, I d like for more funds to go into space exploration; we re not going to zero out earth sciences,  Smith said.  Our weather satellites have been an immense help, for example, and that s from NASA, but I d like for us to remember what our priorities are, and there are another dozen agencies that study earth science and climate change, and they can continue to do that. Meanwhile, we only have one agency that engages in space exploration, and they need every dollar they can muster for space exploration. Actually, other agencies can t continue to study climate change because Trump and his team are preventing them from doing so. That, and the fact that many of these agencies do not have the budget that NASA has to study climate change effectively pretty much means Republicans are making it their mission to gut climate change research.Before taking office, Trump demanded that the Energy Department send a list of employees and labs connected to studying climate change. And Trump s nomination of Rick Perry to head the Energy Department and anti-science Oklahoma Republican Scott Pruitt make it clear that climate change research is about to be disappeared, which is why scientists are working overtime to download all information gathered on climate change before Trump s government deletes it.Also, saving the Earth should be our top priority right now. Space can wait and NASA is already preparing to eventually send people to Mars, so it s not like NASA is incapable of doing both. But Smith wants NASA to stop studying a man-made phenomenon that will destroy us if we don t do something to stop it all because he doesn t want to anger his oil and gas industry masters.This planet is facing an impending disaster the likes of which we have never seen before. Ignoring it won t make it go away and not preparing for the effects will result in a massive loss of life and the destruction of property. And Republicans will be the ones to blame.Featured image via NASA