Greg Tucker
Earth science researcher, educator, writer, and open-source software lover. Professor at CU Boulder and Executive Director of CSDMS.
Slightly longer musings at https://earthcastings.ghost.io
- Reposted by Greg TuckerAttention folks in the weather, climate, disaster, wildfire, and Earth science communities: NSF has just published a new "Dear Colleague" letter inviting feedback (by Mar 13) on the proposal to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). www.nsf.gov/funding/...
- US researchers: Do you think science should be free from political interference? Do you think NCAR is a national treasure that shouldn't be erased at the stroke of a pen? Please consider submitting comments on NSF's Strategic Plan. Deadline is Tue 27 Jan midnight ET. www.nsf.gov/od/updates/n...
- Just finished Mark Miodownik’s wonderful book “It’s a Gas” - highly recommend! @markmiodownik.bsky.social www.penguin.co.uk/books/312206...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerThe National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone. The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets. We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerThis may come as a shock to you, but I wrote a thing. Begins with ICE violence in Minnesota, ends with the Buddhist walk for peace across the Southeast. Discusses the profound weakness of the administration in the middle.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerI encourage everyone to read this beautiful piece by my friend Lisa Graumlich. open.substack.com/pub/lisagrau...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerIn the span of four days, we’ve built a coalition of over 80 lawmakers — including several Republicans — to stop the dismantling of NCAR. I’m grateful to them for their efforts as we work to secure language protecting NCAR in the upcoming CJS appropriations bill. We will not back down! 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
- Proud to build and lead a bipartisan coalition with Rep. Jeff Hurd and @bennet.senate.gov & @hickenlooper.senate.gov — joined by more than 80 of our colleagues in the House and Senate — to protect NCAR in the FY26 NSF appropriations bill. We will not stop until NCAR is protected — period.
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- Scientist at #AGU25 are speaking out to #SaveNCAR. Join more than 2000 of your colleagues to call or email your members of Congress to ask them to support NCAR today: agu.quorum.us/campaign/151...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerFrom wildfire warnings to flood forecasts, NCAR's research impacts everyone in America. President Trump's attempt to dismantle it for political vengeance is beyond reckless. We will fight against this dangerous scheme every step of the way.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerGift link: www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...
- NCAR is a crown jewel of US scientific innovation. Dismantling it is utterly crazy. I hope representatives around the country are hearing lots of pushback from their constituents.
- Lewis Fry Richardson, often considered the father of numerical weather prediction, turns out to have been a fascinating guy: scientist, Quaker, pacifist, visionary. I wrote a short piece about his legacy: earthcastings.ghost.io/a-roomful-of...
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- Reposted by Greg TuckerElection Day is a week from tomorrow, and millions of Americans have a chance to elect important local leaders — judges, council members, school boards, and more — crucial to defending and rebuilding democracy. If you haven’t already, make a plan to cast your vote.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerApplications are open for the CIRES Visiting Fellows Program! Two-year fellowships are available for postdocs, and terms of up to 12 months for senior scientists on leave or sabbatical. Learn more: cires.colorado.edu/award-progra... #fellowships #postdoc #sabbatical Photo:@alibanwell.bsky.social
- I recently gave a talk on earth science to a group of middle schoolers, and it dawned on me that many of the kids in that age group will be alive to witness what the outcome of Roger Revelle's "great geophysical experiment" looks like in the year 2100. earthcastings.ghost.io/pathways/
- Reposted by Greg TuckerNo words
- Reposted by Greg TuckerIt’s not too late to join the #NoKingsKickoff livestream! Great line up of speakers.
- This summer I got the chance to visit the home town of Eunice Newton Foote, the 19th century inventor and scientist who first noted the heat-trapping property of CO2, and who was also a key player in the US women’s rights movement: earthcastings.ghost.io/the-wizard-o...
- Interesting perspective on higher ed teaching in the age of AI (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerI wrote a thing, a roundup of some of the resistance going on.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerFederal agencies hiding out in a bunker
- Reposted by Greg TuckerGeologic Periods xkcd.com/3120/
- “The flowing water in a mad river reshapes the entire landscape, a process known as fluvial erosion.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerAn effusive review of #ScienceUnderSiege by #KirkusReviews of my forthcoming book with @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social, #ScienceUnderSiege
- July 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the "Endless Frontier" report, which led to the establishment of NSF and transformed the US from a science backwater to a global research powerhouse. Will today's congress sustain or abandon that incredible success story? earthcastings.ghost.io/the-endless-...
- Today is the 34th anniversary of the 1991 Pinatubo eruption. earthcastings.ghost.io/anniversary-...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerUS climate scientists need all the help they can get. Including from foul-mouthed comedians! 🤡😱😱 Watch Emmy Award-Winning David Cross team up with Prof Michael Oppenheimer in the US launch of the hit series "Climate Science Translated". #climate #arresteddevelopment #climatescience
- Reposted by Greg TuckerLarge crowds across the U.S. gathered on Saturday to protest the Trump administration. See photos from the “No Kings” rallies here. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/u...
- "It is insane for us to be slashing expenditures on science" - good interview with former Treasury Sec Larry Summers cafe.com/stay-tuned/b...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerThe President's Budget request as released yesterday will gut scientific research. Why should you care? 1) Science is fundamentally a jobs program. Many 100,000s are employed to do science and work for you, the US taxpayer.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerCutting research at the National Science Foundation by more than half(!) is intentionally sabotaging the future. These are contracts the federal government competitively awards to universities to develop breakthroughs and train graduate students to become future leaders & experts. Future is at risk.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerThis is not just a NASA thing, and not just an NSF thing, this is an all-of-science thing (also involving our siblings in the humanities). The president's budget shutters everything that _actually_ makes America great. Please call your Congressfolk and ask them to reject these travesties.
- Trump's Budget is out. For NOAA, it's exactly what the previous passback document showed. Trump administration eliminations NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research in its ongoing fight against science and reality. www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerThe President's budget request would be devastating to NASA science and our quest for life beyond Earth. But there's still time to act, and your voice matters.
- Investing in basic science more than pays for itself! Cutting NSF and NIH would hurt the US economy. (Now might be a good time to remind your congressional reps about this) www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerGood cover @economist.com
- Reposted by Greg Tucker🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday 📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj
- Reposted by Greg TuckerA victory for the federal scientific workforce! We could not stand by while this irreparable harm continues at NSF, NOAA and all our scientific agencies. TODAY the judge granted our request to temporarily HALT the mass firings at federal agencies under Trump’s Executive Order.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerExclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.
- For those not able to attend next week's @csdms.bsky.social conference in person, the keynote talks will be live-streamed. Registration info here: cuboulder.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
- Reposted by Greg Tucker🧪 BOOM: The AAU, ACE, APLU, and 13 universities just filed suit today against NSF for slashing to 15% indirect rates. Full compliant: www.aau.edu/sites/defaul... Updates: www.aau.edu/resources-aa... A similar group of plaintiffs won a *permanent* injunction against a similar change at NIH.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerPGC provided amazing, unique data and services. We are losing key knowledge and insights without them supporting US and global polar research. Tragic.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerI try to take the long-term view, and admittedly that's easier at my career stage. But really, what a crime, what a disaster, so devastating to so many people who love science, want to use it to address climate change and many other issues, and who have worked so hard at it.
- Reposted by Greg Tucker@neguse.house.gov @bennet.senate.gov CU is getting hammered along with the rest of American science, what will you do today to defend it?
- 🔔BREAKING🔔 The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding. This is censorship disguised as oversight. Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3): www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerNSF celebrates its 75th anniversary on May 10th. The best way we can celebrate decades of innovation and service is to let NSF remain an *independent* science agency at the forefront of global discovery.
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- Reposted by Greg TuckerI feel like we've said this quite a few times already, but I guess it bears saying again: Scientists knew about global warming in the 1950s yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/04/scie...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerCompliance with the regime will not save you. Piece of evidence n+1
- Reposted by Greg TuckerNSF PD Raleigh Martin out with another statement on the NSF grant freezes. 🧪 ⚒️ #climatesky
- Reposted by Greg TuckerHappy #EarthDay! CIRES scientists study a wide range of Earth system science topics, including weather and climate, changes at Earth’s poles, atmospheric chemistry, water resources, and solid Earth sciences. Learn more about our research: cires.colorado.edu/research
- On 1 April 2025, LASP @laspatcu finally reveals its true meaning and purpose: lasp.colorado.edu
- Reposted by Greg TuckerIf you're a U.S.-based climate researcher or practitioner, please consider submitting yourself for nomination to work on the upcoming IPCC report. Submissions are due this Friday, 4 April.
- A new academic alliance is providing a pathway for U.S. climate scientists to participate in a critical international climate report after the Trump administration's actions to bar U.S. delegates from a meeting in February. eos.org/research-and...
- “every dollar invested in research and development returns about $5 in economic gains” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/b...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerI was just present as a valued colleague received an email that her NIH grant was terminated. I cannot fully convey the agony of the senseless destruction of the U.S. research infrastructure. It accomplishes NOTHING positive. It is a malicious attack on scientists who support the public’s health.
- Question for our congress reps: July 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the report that led to the founding NSF & NIH, elevating the US from scientific backwater to world leader in research & discovery. Is now the time to surrender that leadership? If not, what are you doing to prevent it?
- Reposted by Greg TuckerIn light of this deeply illegal activity at NSF and the ongoing attack on American science, I'm posting the slides from my 2017 talk at the American Physical Society about the Nazi take over of German physics/why German is no longer science's lingua franca 🧪 🧵 1/26 drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...
- Reposted by Greg TuckerThe news has been more than a bit grim of late, so hooray for @carbonbrief.org providing some genuine and really meaningful **good** news: the UK's carbon emissions in 2024 were the lowest since 1872, because demand for fossil fuels just keeps decreasing. www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-...
- Reposted by Greg Tucker“I'm horrified by what the Trumpists are doing and by the moral ugliness of it; but I'm moved and exhilarated by what a whole lot of the rest of us are doing, and the moral beauty of it. The horror and the wonder can coexist, just as the worst and best of us do.” @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
- "The now-confirmed and rumored additional cuts to come at NOAA/NWS are spectacularly short-sighted, and ultimately will deal a major self-inflicted wound to the public safety of Americans and the resiliency of the American economy to weather and climate-related disasters." Agreed!
- The mass firing of both new hires and recently promoted senior staff within #NOAA, including mission-critical and life-saving roles at the National Weather Service (#NWS), is profoundly alarming. 1/11
- Reposted by Greg TuckerThe U.S. #NationalWeatherService, housed within #NOAA, is a truly world-class meteorological predictive service, perhaps singularly so. It costs only ~$3/yr per taxpayer, & yields ~10:1 return on investment--saving economy 10s-100s of billions, not to mention thousands of lives.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerI truly think people don’t realize how many universities and colleges — especially public ones — may shut down if restrictions on and withholding of federal funding persists for even one presidency We are facing the demolition of American higher education
- Hypothesis: Complex information is like physical exercise: many people hate it, a few crave it, and most others tolerate it in moderation.
- Reposted by Greg TuckerUpon learning that yesterday would be my last day as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, I shared this parting message with my colleagues. The next few months will be frenetic and stressful for them. Here are some things that you can do to help them with the mission ahead. (1)
- Reposted by Greg TuckerFrom NSF EAR program director Raleigh Martin on LinkedIn #climatesky #greensky
- I just signed onto a letter from researchers across the country, urging that we sustain, not slash, cutting-edge NIH biomedical research. I hope other researchers will consider signing on: docs.google.com/forms/d/1Agz...
- Reposted by Greg Tucker168 colleagues lost yesterday, 6 in Earth Sciences alone. Today we grieved. And strategized. www.npr.org/2025/02/18/n...
- Decimating NSF is a tragic mistake. The Foundation is a big part of why US has been the global leader in research and discovery since the 1950s.
- "I don't know what NSF is going to be now, but it's not more efficient. It's just a mess." My story on today's firings and their impact. www.npr.org/2025/02/18/n...
- NSF’s model - emphasizing basic research, funding research in universities where students learn and carry out cutting edge work, and having the science community set priorities - has been extraordinarily effective. We should be doubling, not slashing.
- Jonathan R Cole beautifully tells the story of NSF in his “The Great American University” jonathanrcole.com
- Reposted by Greg TuckerProfessional societies stand together in defense of science & scientists. “science has led to humanity’s greatest advances, improving people’s lives & the health of our planet … (we’re) committed to supporting, elevating, & fighting for science & those who further it.“ www.unitedsciencealliance.org
- Reposted by Greg TuckerREPOST if you support our federal workforce and know how dedicated they are to their jobs. Show them you appreciate them!
- Reposted by Greg TuckerWe are alarmed by the Administration’s actions to freeze science funding and eliminate DEI efforts and climate change initiatives, which go against AGU’s mission and harms our members. We must unite to address these changes, beginning by hearing from you. Read more: buff.ly/4hm8r4e
