I’m a high school senior preparing for college, and it’s clear my ambitions don’t have a home in Trump’s America.
Like most prospective students applying to college these days, I now have to consider whether the schools I’m interested in will be subject to ongoing attacks by the current Administration. The Administration claims its efforts to cut off funding to schools or control their academic direction are intended to root out antisemitism, eliminate the DEI “hoax”, and slash scientific research grants that have been deemed "unnecessary" based on a list of targeted key words – many of which include climate science initiatives.
As a Jew, I know the scourge of antisemitism is real and pervasive. But I fail to understand how this goal justifies infringing on academic freedom while hemorrhaging research capacity, especially within the climate space, as reports from the IPCC urge immediate action to curb already devastating climate change impacts. These justifications feel more like a weapon to silence critics and assert control over independent, culturally and civically important institutions than a real interest in combating antisemitism or ushering in more pertinent academic research initiatives. We are watching America’s universities – crown jewels that are respected worldwide – compromised in ways that have nothing to do with the Administration’s stated aims. Academic freedom is clearly in peril.
Students with an interest in climate sciences, like me, have to weigh whether this country will support our research and innovation efforts or leave us contemplating where more secure opportunities lie. Ever since I was in elementary school I’ve longed to work within the climate science space, and my eagerness to pursue this has only grown. A 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans believe that climate change is causing harm in the United States. A staggering 78% of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 believe that harm to people in the U.S. caused by climate change will get worse in their lifetime.
I share that sentiment: Like many people my age, I am concerned about the planet, the impact climate change has on already marginalized populations and I believe I have an obligation to combat climate change and its impacts on global communities. I started a blog to help temper my climate anxiety by reporting on climate innovation and realized that’s what I want: a career devoted to meaningful scientific and entrepreneurial efforts to combat climate change.
For decades, it’s been clear that America lags behind other countries when it comes to taking climate change seriously. We are the second largest producer of carbon emissions that cause global warming, yet our concern does not keep pace with our consumption. A 2023 international survey conducted by the Yale Program for Climate Change Communication and Data for Good at Meta found that relatively few Americans are alarmed by global warming compared to populations in other top emitting countries. In fact, among the fifteen countries surveyed, the United States had the largest percentage of respondents who were doubtful or dismissive of global warming. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught me anything, other than how to wash my hands and defog my glasses, it’s that America has a disinformation and misinformation problem when it comes to science. A 2024 Scientific American editorial went so far as to call disinformation on vaccines, climate, elections and other issues crucial to our society as a threat to both democracy and public health.
This administration’s science-phobic denial that climate change is a threat (or that it exists at all), and its rejection of efforts to support environmental education, research and climate change innovation are expansive. The list is long and disheartening. The U.S. has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, as well as a number of international climate pacts, it has set out to dismantle or reverse any progress made under the Inflation Reduction Act to promote climate and clean energy investments, revoked the prior administration’s climate crisis and environmental justice executive actions, terminated the American Climate Corps, froze an array of climate-centered regulations and consumer protections, fired the Environmental Protection Agency’s Scientific Advisory Committee and shut down the EPA’s scientific research arm responsible for providing expertise for environmental policies and regulations. The Trump administration is doubling down on fossil fuel leases and opening land for drilling. And in a chilling move to erase climate science, mentions of climate change are being removed from federal websites.
Not all hope is lost. It may feel like the federal government has signed our death warrant, consigning us to be victims of inevitable floods, but progress has – and is – still being made. China, which is far and away the largest producer of greenhouse gasses worldwide, has turned its focus to renewable energy in recent years, and now stands as the global leader in renewables. Not only are they investing heavily in wind and solar, but China is also exporting solar panels and turbines across the globe, helping to accelerate the energy shift in more ways than one. Almost half of the EU’s energy came from renewable sources in 2025, and that number is poised to keep increasing in the years to come. And Australia produces so much solar power that some parts of the country receive three free hours of energy daily.
As I reached out to people in climate tech and innovation for my blog, many seemed unwilling to give up the fight. They remained optimistic and determined, but also candid– funding had been cut, there’s financial uncertainty, and it’s clear the current administration will not support climate research and innovation.
As an incoming college freshman with climate career ambitions, the advice I’ve received more than once was to prepare to work abroad because the best opportunities have been offshored. Despite the current state of affairs, I remain confident that America is capable of tackling its environmental impacts. At the end of the day, I am still committed to attending an American university to study environmental engineering, and there are still opportunities to do good in the climate sector within the United States.
We, as a people, must push ahead and make our nation somewhere where the aspiring scientists, physicians, innovators and researchers of my generation can learn and grow
– where we can continue advancing science and climate research to heights we’ve only imagined.
Freyalise is a concerned teenager interested in environmental engineering, doing her part to make the world a better place.
The opinions and experiences presented in guest articles are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center.
