Former NOAA employees built Climate.us to preserve climate data and resources (werd.io)

Article summary

Former NOAA employees have built a website called Climate.us to preserve climate data and resources after the Trump administration took Climate.gov offline. The website relies on donations to stay afloat and hosts a range of climate data, maps, and educational materials. The data was able to be preserved because US government data is public domain by law. The website's creators aim to provide a valuable resource for those seeking climate information.

Main themes

• Climate data preservation
• Government funding and censorship
• Private vs public data collection
• Weather data management
• Government transparency and accountability

What commenters say

• Collecting and distributing weather data is a fundamental government function that should not be left to private companies.
• Private companies may have incentives to manipulate or hide climate data for financial gain, making government collection and dissemination of data crucial.
• Government-funded research should be made publicly available, rather than being restricted to private companies or requiring payment for access.
• Private companies can provide accurate and unbiased data, but their primary goal is to make a profit, which can lead to conflicting interests.
• The government should manage and provide climate data through APIs, rather than relying on private companies to disseminate the information.
• Providing free access to government-collected data can be seen as unfair competition to private companies that offer similar data as a paid service.
• The privatization of government data and services can lead to a lack of transparency and accountability, and may prioritize corporate interests over public needs.
• There is a need for a balance between government and private sector involvement in data collection and dissemination to ensure accuracy, accessibility, and transparency.