The Trump administration’s war on information
Disinformation, misinformation, and now even un-information
While I was in grad school, writing research papers on global warming, watersheds, estuaries, and fire, among other things, I relied heavily on U.S. government websites. I could trust information from the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal sites. The writing was science based and unbiased. And I always appreciated the clear, direct language used to describe subjects that could be complex and challenging.
I have continued to use these websites for information while writing the Green Dispatch. Over the last several months, however, when I used a search engine on a topic, climate change for example, the government sites aren’t coming up as before. Clicking on those sites to search for information more directly has grown frustrating at times, too.
I am convinced the Trump administration has been scrubbing climate science and other information it doesn’t want the public to know from federal websites. There is plenty of misinformation out there, as well as out-and-out disinformation. What we also have now is un-information, a term Orwell could have coined for 1984. The knowledge is there. Someone compiled the data, and folks synthesized and summarized scores of studies and scientific measurements. That information exists somewhere, but even with the best search engines and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, that information is unavailable, at least on some government websites.
Some news sources give the impression the Trump administration has deleted completely the connection between human-produced greenhouse gases and climate change. Other outlets more correctly state that there have been changes to some, but not all of the government’s websites. My guess is political appointees have come into offices and, lacking the familiarity that government staff have with federal websites, have done a botched job of scrubbing the sites of climate change and other topics they want to censor.
What I found
I clicked around on a few federal sites to see the extent of the changes. Here is what I found.
While the tone of this EPA webpage on the causes of climate change remains the same, no mention is made of the human factors that now drive the temperature of the planet. This particular page has been completely scrubbed of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, the EPA’s website still has this webpage on greenhouse gas emissions, and the links on this page go to other pages that still cover emissions and warming. Once again, some appointee probably found and changed one or two pages on the EPA website about global warming and thought that was the end of it.
At the NOAA website, the connection between human greenhouse gas emissions and climate change remains, but the banner warns “This website is an ARCHIVED version of NOAA Climate.gov as of June 25, 2025. Content is not being updated or maintained, and some links may no longer work.” At the same time, NOAA still has comprehensive and scientifically based information about climate change on other pages of its website.
Government websites now give their news a Donald Trump spin
As with their websites, press releases from government agencies used to be reliable sources for news. Now they sell Donald Trump’s agenda and depict the Trump administration’s war on the environment as something just short of a miracle that will make all creatures, from whales and endangered sage grouse to Ayn Rand and the captains of industry, happy as clams in an unpolluted sea.
The folks over at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are promoting Donald Trump’s assault on the Endangered Species Act as a way to “strengthen American energy independence, improve regulatory predictability and ensure federal actions align with the best reading of the law.” The press release makes no mention of saving species or setting aside habitat. It is a tacit admission that changes to the law have more to do with serving the interests of the fossil fuel industry than protecting songbirds or amphibians.
And there is health as well
I consider human health of utmost importance, and I often write about it, as so many environmental factors—from noise pollution to lead exposure—have a bearing on our health. So I investigated what is going on at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and what it has to say about vaccines.
Along with the development of reliable potable water and controlling mosquito populations that can spread water-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, vaccines have saved the lives of millions. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine and rid us of the fears of disability and paralysis. Vaccines have given us the freedom to speak of smallpox in the past tense; that disease no longer disfiguring and cutting lives short.
The CDC is presently giving mixed signals on vaccines. On one page, in answer to the rhetorical question, “Is there a link between autism and vaccines?” the CDC’s answer remains “No. Scientific studies and reviews continue to show no relationship between vaccines and autism.” Yet when you click to the webpage devoted to autism and vaccines, that page offers the following bullet points:
The claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.
Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.
HHS has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.
There are likely hundreds of similar changes affecting other government websites. Those cited here are just a snapshot of the horrible assault the Trump administration has made on health and the environment. The sloppy mess they have created—some pages scrubbed of offending science and others left intact—is probably a good indication of how disorganized and amateurish Trump’s folks are. While this might make grist for Democrats and their political campaigns, it is not a comforting thought. These incompetent people are still in charge, and they can mess up a lot more than a few websites.
Other Green Dispatches about the Trump administration:
I've noticed the same thing - a kind of botched removal of certain information from some, but not all, of the pages of a federal agency. For example, I regularly write about PFAS ("forever chemicals"), and the EPA still has some solid info about health effects on some pages, but it's been watered down on others. I wouldn't be surprised if the reliable info keeps getting less and less, however, as the censor folks find more.
But I think we should all remember that the vast majority of folks who work at these agencies are dedicated scientists and public servants who believe in science and their agency's mission and don't agree with what's happening. It's mostly only the people high up in management and in charge now who are dictating these harmful rules.
It’s terrifying how hard it is to find trusted sources these days.