Covering science with a finger. Cartoon of 20/04/2025 in CTXT
Translation of the cartoon: "The guy who wanted to cover science with a finger".
Milei prohibits meteorologists at the National Weather Service(NWS) from using the terms "climate change", "greenhouse effect" and "global warming" in any new publications or from using these words in public. He has even gone so far as to delete several old press releases and press releases in which they were used. Among other stupidities, Milei believes that the use of these terms is "fanatical environmentalism".
According to SMM staff, denialism is only a small part of the plan to dismantle the agency, which involves curtailing its autonomy and funding as well as a raft of budget cuts and layoffs.
In 2024, more than 100 workers at the GWS were made redundant, almost 15% of its staff. The lack of experts affected the issuing of warnings and prevented the needs of the agency's 125 weather stations from being met. At the time, there was already talk that the number of redundancies could be as high as 670.
And what was bound to happen happened. In March, a heavy storm that dumped around 300 millimetres of rain in a span of eight hours in Bahía Blanca (Buenos Aires) caused disaster and chaos. In just eight hours, it rained almost half of what usually falls in a whole year.
The toll was 17 dead, some 1400 people evacuated, hospital collapse and a large part of the city without electricity. As was to be expected, the warnings from the National Meteorological Service arrived too late, and most people did not even know what was coming. Most people were not even aware of what was coming. How does this sound?
It is no less outrageous for being well known. The dangerous redneck Milei already anticipated his intentions in the campaign. During the last presidential debate, he claimed that climate change is part of a natural cycle of the Earth and that blaming humanity was a fundraising strategy of researchers and environmental organisations.
During his first days in government he claimed that climate change is an invention to justify taxes and funding for "socialist bums".
This is what it has come to, many fanatics have taken it for granted that the work of scientists is questioned, even scorned in political debates between ignorant people in order to give credence to morons like Milei with ridiculous speeches devoid of any rational argument.
These days, more than a few people who consider themselves rational and ideologically close to such elements will either not know where to hide in the face of Milei's anti-science speeches or will avoid speaking out and will have to assume with fanatical resignation the denialist stupidity as necessary "collateral" political damage.
Milei is yet another samugo of this "new" herd of leaders who pretend to turn ignorance into a science.
