I submitted an internship application for the National Parks Service two weeks ago. This application was due on January 19th--this is both ironic and relevant to the story that follows. If you’ve heard recent national buzz regarding climate change and social media, the “Science Communication in the Northeast” internship to which I applied may seem a bit meaningless...

Speaking on politics is not my cup of coffee (I enjoy coffee over tea these days…), but I have a difficult time keeping my thoughts to myself when it comes to our Commander in Chief’s lack of commitment to our planet. As a soon-to-be college graduate with aspirations to write for the humanities or sciences, specifically on environmental and climate change issues, I have an even more difficult time understanding/accepting the environmental agency social media blackout.

I have yet to come across two reports from legitimate sources which disclose the same information on this social media blackout and EPA gag order, so it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on. But I have come across countless reports of environmentalists that are very, very unhappy with the prospects of losing accessible information on our environment.

I have also come across a typo on the White House’s website, just saying...

With all this buzz, I very quickly became upset and discouraged (correction: angry and anxious) that the post-graduation career opportunities that I was hoping for may no longer be feasible. Will this internship be worth my while if my work can’t be publicized? Will I even be allowed to establish a career in the scientific communication field within this presidential term? Who knows. WOE IS ME. But after being selfish and mopy for a few days, I realized that this issue is much, much bigger than poor little Cara not having a job she enjoys after graduation.

Climate change, in my mind, is one of the most important, immediate issues that we as a human race are facing and I firmly believe that losing access to facts and trends on our planet’s health is the greatest disservice to its improvement. Environmental progress or regression is nearly impossible to gauge without numerical values, so how are we supposed to differentiate between “hey, we’re doing okay” and “hey, we suck”? I commend and respect whoever took over the Badlands National Park Twitter last week...that was badass. I don’t care if this person wasn’t an employee or that the tweets were deleted. This person adhered to the issue of climate change because they find it important and I think that’s awesome. I think that we all must continue recognizing the importance and magnitude of climate change with or without its presence in social media.

Obviously, I hope I am selected as the National Parks Service’s Science Communication Intern (send up a prayer for your girl that reviewers like my application) but if I am not, I hope that whoever has the pleasure of taking on this position learns how to peacefully stand in opposition during a time where we’re led to believe our environment is unimportant. I hope that this intern and everyone else who works for the good of our planet keeps up the caliber and momentum of recognizing and mending our ever-changing environment. But most of all, I hope that our planet’s health becomes a priority to our leaders.

This earth takes good care of us, so we must take good care of it.