When the Trump administration shut down Climate.gov in June 2025, it removed one of the federal government’s most widely used climate education resources. For 15 years, the website translated complex climate science into accessible articles, interactive maps, classroom resources, and real-time data for students, teachers, farmers, journalists, policymakers, and the general public.
At its peak, Climate.gov attracted nearly 1 million visitors each month. Now, just one year later, former Climate.gov program manager Rebecca Lindsey has restored much of the site’s mission through Climate.us, an independent nonprofit dedicated to keeping trusted climate science freely available.
Since its launch in 2010, Climate.gov served as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) primary hub for public climate science communication. A team of writers, editors, and data specialists produced articles, graphics, maps, and educational resources explaining everything from El Niño and La Niña to long-term changes in Earth’s climate system. When NOAA retired the website during broader agency restructuring in 2025, all 10 team members lost their jobs.
The shutdown coincided with sweeping reductions across NOAA. During the first months of the Trump administration, the agency lost more than one-fifth of its workforce through layoffs, firings, and voluntary departures. Staffing shortages disrupted weather balloon launches at several forecasting offices, while budget cuts affected additional scientific programs. NOAA redirected Climate.gov to a simplified webpage that retained only a fraction of its original educational content.
Rather than allow those resources to disappear, Lindsey joined roughly 80 volunteer scientists, former NOAA employees, and climate communicators to rebuild the platform outside the federal government. More than 2,500 people contributed over $321,000 to launch Climate.us, providing roughly one-third of its initial funding, while an anonymous donor supplied the remaining support.
Today, Climate.us restores many of the features that made its predecessor so valuable. Scientists, educators, farmers, journalists, policymakers, and curious members of the public can once again access an extensive archive of climate articles, educational resources, regional climate maps, and a live dashboard that tracks atmospheric carbon dioxide, Arctic sea ice extent, global temperatures, and other long-term climate indicators.
The project also reflects the scientific community’s broader commitment to preserving public access to climate information. At the same time, scientists acknowledge that they cannot fully recreate every element of Climate.gov. Some federal climate datasets no longer remain publicly available, making it difficult to determine whether certain long-term monitoring efforts continue uninterrupted.
That distinction carries lasting consequences. Scientists can rebuild a website, but they cannot replace gaps in continuous climate observations.
Climate.us demonstrates how scientific knowledge can endure beyond changes in government. By preserving decades of research, educational resources, and climate communication, the nonprofit keeps one of the country’s most trusted climate references freely available. As researchers continue to monitor the future of federal climate data collection, Climate.us ensures that millions of people can still access reliable, evidence-based information about a changing planet.
