If there is a way to best describe President Trump’s one-made administration and view of the world as to what is right and wrong, it’s a mission increasingly guided by a self-appointed presidential mission flowing with aggrandize public statements best summed up as “misinformation” and guided a by single ethos; …“My Mind is Made Up, Don’t Confuse Me with Facts”.

The status of US government and taxpayer-funded scientific assets shut down in 2025 at the start of second Trump presidency has been in a word; reckless.  Altogether, these Trump-targeted public research and scientific reporting assets are (and were) responsible for monitoring, reporting, and providing their public findings and analysis on national and global climate-related developments, are today either shut down or on life-support, unable to fulfill their nation mission to alert and inform the public and lawmakers as to climate threats and human-impacts to the public, the nation, and the world.

Shutdown of Key Climate Monitoring & Analysis Assets

• NOAA Billion-Dollar Disaster Database: Discontinued in May 2025, this database tracked the costliest U.S. weather and climate-related disasters.Climate.gov: The primary NOAA website for public-facing climate science, tracking, and data had its staff of 10 terminated on May 31, 2025, effectively shutting it down. 
• US Global Change Research Program Website: The site hosting comprehensive, mandated federal climate reports was taken down.
• NASA Climate Missions: The administration proposed eliminating funding for Orbiting Carbon Observatories (OCO-2 and OCO-3), which measure carbon dioxide emissions.
• Environmental Justice Mapping (EJScreen): Removed from the EPA website on Feb 5, 2025, along with related environmental justice and equity information.
• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR): In December 2025, the administration announced plans to “break up” or dismantle this major federal climate research center.
• Ocean Sensors: A targeted 80% funding cut to the Ocean Observatories Initiative, which monitors marine conditions.
• Mauna Loa Observatory Support: Plans were reported to end leases on NOAA facilities, including the Global Monitoring Laboratory in Hilo, Hawaii, which tracks atmospheric CO2.

Status Reporting and Assessment Shutdowns

• National Climate Assessment (NCA): The administration halted work on the 6th NCA, fired 400+ scientists working on it in April 2025, and removed previous assessments from federal websites in June 2025.
• EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program: The agency initiated moves to terminate the program that requires industrial facilities to report emissions.
• EPA Climate Adaptation Resources (ARC-X): Removed, including “Implications of Climate Change” and “Climate Resilience Evaluation and Adaptation Tool” (CREAT). 

Research and Funding Terminations

• NSF Climate Grants: More than 100 National Science Foundation grants for climate research were terminated in June 2025.
• Clean Energy Funding: In October 2025, the Department of Energy halted over $7.5 billion in funding for 223 clean energy projects.
• International Climate Reporting: The administration stopped involvement in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and ordered federal scientists to stop work related to it. 

The World’s Ocean has been hoarding Heat, building up a massive release

The ocean affects global weather, provides vital food source for much of the planet inhabitants, and humans a link to Earth’s greatest asset.  The ocean’s system of temperature management (it’s thermostat) has been hoarding heat for time now, and ever increasing rates as humans load the plant with every increasing amount of CO2 emissions. Scientists study ocean temperatures recently determined, our oceanic systems    are now building up to a massive CO2 ‘burp.’

When, and if, we humans manage to cut enough emissions and eventually reduce global temperatures, new research shows the Southern Ocean could supercharge global warming (heating).

The expansive Southern Ocean wraps around Antarctica.

Since the Industrial Revolution kicked off, humans have dialed up the world’s temperature to the  max, adding extraordinary amounts of heat into the atmosphere, and more than 90 percent of which has been absorbed by the world’s oceans, along with a quarter of our CO2 emissions.) Under climate change, the Southern Ocean has been storing heat which, like a morning jolt of expresso, that heat can’t stay there forever, and will someday return to the atmosphere.

The Southern Ocean may encircle the frozen continent of Antarctica, but it’s very effective at storing heat: It alone holds around 80 percent of the warmth that’s taken up by all the oceans. Some of this comes from currents that transport relatively toasty waters south, but also lots of upwelling in the Southern Ocean brings cold water to the surface to be warmed up.

The skies above the Southern Ocean are also somewhat less reflective than elsewhere around the globe. Cargo ships and industries in the Northern Hemisphere spew air pollution in the form of aerosols, which themselves bounce solar energy back into the cosmos and help brighten clouds, which reflect still more. That cooling phenomenon has vied, in a sense, with the warming that’s come from the burning of fossil fuels. “That competition hasn’t been as prevalent over the Southern Hemisphere, because it’s this slightly more pristine atmosphere.

In the scenario the researchers modeled, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 increases by 1 percent every year until the total amount is double what the planet had before the Industrial Revolution. Then negative emissions technologies reduce the carbon concentration by 0.1 percent annually.

Massive glaciers are melting rapidly worldwide due to rising global temperatures from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions,

The Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier (“Doomsday Glacier”) and Greenland being major concerns due to their vast ice volume and potential to significantly raise sea levels, are “now” melting at unprecedented rates, since humans walked the Planet.

This glacier-meltdown contributes to sea-level rise. The Thwaites Glacier is now melting at an unprecedented rate and will bring to the world’s coastlines (Hawaii included) an ocean level rise  estimated between 3 – 12 feet, with unprecedented consequences. Beyond massive increases in coastal erosion, beach-front property destruction, beach losses, the melt-down is now fueling intense storms, which in turn are threatening coastal cities and ecosystems globally. But this global meltdown, which only now gaining public attention, is not isolated to the southern ocean. Glaciers around the world are now experiencing some degree of meltdown, and are at risk of vanishing soon.

Scientists are racing to understand these accelerating global heating by-products of a fossil-fueled global economy. And the melting down processes now underway, especially the destabilizing effects on West Antarctica, which could lead to catastrophic sea level rise if glaciers like Thwaites collapse. 

The New York Times reported late today President Trump did NOT like the results of national job losses and weak growth reflected in the numbers released this afternoon by the Bureau of Labor.

President Trump unleashed his fury about the weakness in the labor market on Friday. The President’s reaction was typical, over-the-top, claiming without evidence and any reality checks, that the Bureau of Labor data were “rigged”…

Trump instructed his minions to fire the Senate-confirmed Department of Labor official Erika McEntarfer and Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who is responsible for reporting on national job results and changes reflected in new hires and job losses.

Erika McEntarfer is an American labor economist who served as the 16th Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  She has over 20 years of experience as a professional economist in several key federal government roles, primarily at the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as at the Department of Treasury and the White House Council of Economic Advisors

McEntarfer academic credentials are impeccable, and include a bachelor’s degree in social science from Bard College and a Ph.D. in Economics from Virginia Tech.

At the Census Bureau, she led research initiatives for the Longitudinal Employer–Household Dynamics program, which produces cutting-edge workforce statistics.

In the White House, she played a crucial role advising officials on labor market trends and recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her research covers topics such as job loss, wage rigidity, and interactions between employers and workers, and she has published in several leading economics journals — in short, unlike Trump’s appointments in key Federal agency positions, and rubber stamped by the Congressional Republican Party majority in both legislative chambers, Erika McEntarfer was highly qualified for her job, and in her service to the nation.

In a long post on social media this afternoon, Mr. Trump said he had directed (his team) to fire Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who was confirmed on a bipartisan basis in 2024.   Emily Liddel, an associate commissioner for the bureau, wa confirmed late Friday to replace Dr. McEntarfer …who had been fired.

In a one-two economic punch, Hawaii’s economy been negatively impacted by Trump administration policies and reactive-actions on Federal workers based in the state, and by extension their economic contribution to the state.   Official numbers for federal worker firings in Hawaii this year (as of July 30, 2025) are scarce and conflicting. However, several reports and lawsuits indicate that numerous federal workers in Hawaii were affected by firings or layoffs earlier this year, impacting jobs and the economic  contribution they represent to the state’s economy.  

At the same time, high prices and economic jitters are leading the traveling public to pull back on domestic vacation plans in what experts call a move to the “staycation season”.

Hawaii’s highly tourist-dependent economy is not immune in this shift and the potential loss of visitor spending in the state.  The pullback in visitors follows months of economic warning signs. Americans say they are feeling worse about the economy than they have in years, as new and disruptive trade and immigration policies take hold nationally. Many are bracing for a spike in prices from new tariffs, while others are worried about losing their jobs in a slowing labor market.

Years of inflation, coupled with rising health care, insurance and utility costs, have pinched household budgets.

Airline Travel Outlook

Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue have all warned that slowing domestic demand could weigh on profits this year.

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, combined, will operate over 40,000 flights annually with more than 8.5 million seats to Hawaii, making them the largest domestic carrier to the islands. In September 2023 alone, there were about 600,000 total passengers (525,000 in economy) from the Continental US to Hawaii, according to Cirium. 

Most Americans (representing the bulk Hawaii visitors) — 56 percent — say they plan to travel less this summer, according to a national poll by SSRS. Many said they were opting for shorter or “more budget-conscious” trips because of financial concerns, with 54 percent saying they would be trying to save more money this year in face increasing economic uncertainties and rising costs.

Breaking News; August 1st

Dow drops 500 points, S&P 500, Nasdaq slide after weak jobs report, Trump’s tariff redux

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on imports from dozens of trade partners in his latest attempt to reshape the global economy.  The new rates, which Trump sees as benefiting US exporters, unleash a fresh round of uncertainty for dozens of countries, including longtime US allies. It has also raised fears of inflation in the US.

Rates were set at 25% for India’s US-bound exports, 20% for Taiwan and 30% for South Africa. Switzerland faces a rate of 39%. The deadline for a tariff deal with Mexico was extended by another 90 days.  Brazil’s tariff rate was set at 10%, but a previous order signed by Trump placed a 40% tariff on some Brazilian goods, to punish the country for prosecuting its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, for trying to overturn an election he lost and inspiring his supporters to storm the seat of government.   Separately, the White House announced that Canadian imports will face tariffs of 35%, not the current 25%. The order stated that Canada had “failed to cooperate”.

Trump said in a disconnect from the facts, that the new tariffs were going “very well, very smooth.” In an interview with NBC News he added that it was “too late” for the countries named in Thursday’s order to avoid the tariff rates, but that he was open to offers.

The Trump administration views science as a threat; so long to Climate truth-telling and cause and effect science.

Denial and blind ignorance as a new national policy in place of valid and revealing science, especially in the areas covering the increasing impacts climate changes on all living things across the planet, well, is not surprising) and by the new Trump administration should come as no surprise, in an escalating change of America’s well vetted policy and setting national priorities. Going backwards to world of 19th century economic and scientific priorities is just not living and in today’s 21st century work, and that is both dumb and dangerous.!

Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Peak, has served as scientific bellwether in measuring rising planetary CO2 emissions now transforming the Earth’s biosphere. Global heating now underway is threatening the present and future of humankind, and most other living things for that matter.

Increasingly, well established science covering the global heating impacts linked to increasing and accumulating fossil emissions within our planet’s biosphere. The production of dangerous planet heating GHG emissions produced by humans is neither a state secret nor subject scientific speculation, it is simple well documented fact of life in the 20th and now 21st century. A  fact of modern life all too serious to ignore or be denied.   So it makes no sense as national policy that essential science exemplified by the Hawaii’s Mauna Loa monitoring of GHG emissions and supporting real time monitoring and research altogether plays an essential supporting global climate science.

The observatory (near the summit) and is strategically located on the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii, and certainly is a globally-valued asset to entire scientific and climate-focused community.  The Mauna Loa climate-monitoring site been recording the amount of carbon dioxide or other GHGas levels in the air since 1958,providing the world with the longest continuous record of direct measurements of CO2. Most recent findings from the monitoring site reveal a steadily increasing trend in GHG emissions year-over-year.

Why Mauna Loa?

Early attempts to measure CO2 in the USA and Scandinavia found that the readings varied a lot due to the influence of growing plants and the exhaust from motors. Mauna Loa is ideal because it is so remote from big population centres. Also, on tropical islands at night, the prevailing winds blow from the land out to sea, which effect brings clean, well-mixed Central Pacific air from high in the atmosphere to the observatory. This removes any interference coming from the vegetation lower down on the island.

The closing Mauna Loa monitoring station and three other U.S. sites that track greenhouse gases will no less than disrupt a decades-long record of the planet’s changing atmosphere, which is exactly the intent of this action.

The Mauna Loa climate observatory is part of a global network of stations that monitor the atmosphere. The research performed at these labs lets scientists assess changes over the long term, figure out what caused the changes and make better predictions for extreme events like heat waves, droughts and floods. And the stations can help scientists tell which climate policies are working, which are not, and if global warming is accelerating.

“It’s frankly inconceivable,” said Lisa Graumlich, an emeritus climate scientist at the University of Washington and past president of the American Geophysical Union. People know and understand the “iconic” record, she said.

“A lot of the science we do is incredibly complex, and this record is something that can be grasped by everyone.”

“Why, for relatively little cost, would we want to lose that ability?” Dr. Graumlich said.