Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
View more of the Sun's opinion section
Recently French President Emmanuel Macron made a very big show of awarding 18 American scientists research grants to relocate to France.
It’s very rare to think of people leaving America for a lack of scientific opportunity. Regardless of discipline, Americans tend to think that one does not have to the leave the States to become successful or world-renowned in their field.
Yet the Trump administration’s denial of climate science means that advances in clean energy will come from abroad. Part of Trump’s proposed 31 percent slashing of the Environmental Protection Agency budget includes a $234 million cut for environmental research grants.
Wind and solar energy are the two fastest-growing sources of power in the U.S., and America’s transition to a clean-power future has already begun.
Instead of the U.S. being a science and technology leader, as we’ve become accustomed, this administration is handicapping the nation to a future where we will constantly be playing catch-up.
The administration is attempting to delay scientific progress for fear of the discoveries and efficiencies that will follow.
Such achievements will continue to happen elsewhere, as foreign countries poach our best and brightest for their own gain, the only difference being that Americans will not benefit from them.
