The Trump Administration Might Soon Cut All the Funding for NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System
Since it’s hard to control greenhouse gas emissions if we don’t know how much we produce, NASA decided to launch a Carbon Monitoring System (CMS). The mechanism performs some advanced research on the carbon flows of our planet and can detect any kind of changes occurring in the atmosphere. However, it might be hard to keep the system going, as the Trump administration has decided to cut the funding for the project.
The Carbon Monitoring System Helped Us Comply to the Decisions of the Climate Agreement
The Carbon Monitoring System is one of the most advanced tools used for our planet’s observations. Based on the carbon flows it detects, then it can perform some simulations of the future movements of the gases. However, it’s a bit costly to keep it going – $10 million per year. Therefore, the funding cut might be a dire move for the future of the system.
The Trump administration has already decided it won’t stick to the decisions taken by the Paris climate agreement. If the Carbon Monitoring System keeps transmitting worrying data regarding our carbon dioxide emissions, it will be difficult to ignore the decisions of the agreement. Therefore, the funding cut might a move in this sense.
The Trump Administration Isn’t Supportive of Climate Science
This isn’t the first time when the administration is trying to ignore climate issues. For several times, it made proposals to reduce the budget given to NASA for environmental purposes. They did cut the funding for specific climate-oriented missions, but the CMS somehow survived.
Some specific claims from March made it possible for the Carbon Monitoring System to receive its budget. However, this will happen only for a limited period of time. The NASA officials said the project would go on uninterrupted until all the money and the grants were over and, then, they suspected they wouldn’t get any further funding.
The CMS Might Not Receive New Funding When the Current Grants Are Over
Interesting enough, the administration didn’t come up with too many explanations. When asked of the sudden budget cut on these NASA missions, it invoked some more important expenses and other priorities in the field of science. However, many people thought this was an attempt to stop the Carbon Monitoring System from further performing its observations.
The satellites that monitor our planet and its carbon levels benefit from private funding. Therefore, we will continue to have this data even if the system no longer functions. However, NASA needs to perform some research once it gets the data, and this is even more expensive. Also, its only source of funding contains these national grants.
Cutting Carbon Emissions Will Be Difficult Without the CMS
Since its inception in 2010, the Carbon Monitoring System has run all kinds of observation missions regarding forests. They monitored the levels of carbon dioxide present in these forests. Also, they looked at their oxygen production and the phenomenon of deforestation and how to stop it. By spotting new blank spaces where forests used to grow and keeping track of all greenhouse gas emissions, they could find solutions against it.
The future of the Carbon Monitoring System isn’t too happy. Most likely, the satellites and other equipment will keep an eye on global carbon dioxide levels. However, this project made it easier to intervene and identify the source of the problems, as well as proposing solutions to cut greenhouse gas emissions.