Climate.gov shut down — open data volunteers rebuilt it as Climate.us
Original: Climate.gov was destroyed. Open data saved it
Why This Matters
Demonstrates how open data law enables civil society to preserve critical public scientific infrastructure when government defunds it.
After the Trump administration cut NOAA funding and took Climate.gov offline, three former NOAA employees — Rebecca Lindsey, Anna Eshelman, and Mary Lindsey — rebuilt the site as Climate.us, preserving over 15 years of federal climate data, maps, and reports, funded solely by donations.
When the Trump administration drastically cut NOAA's budget, Climate.gov — a longstanding public resource for climate data and education — was taken offline. Three former NOAA employees, Rebecca Lindsey, her sister Mary Lindsey, and Anna Eshelman, responded by launching Climate.us, a successor site that preserves more than 15 years of climate data, educational materials, and indicator reports. Among the preserved resources is the Fifth National Climate Assessment, the U.S. government's most comprehensive climate change analysis, which had been deleted from official channels. The effort was made possible by U.S. law designating federal government data as public domain, meaning the datasets could legally be rehosted. Climate.us features a climate dashboard tracking metrics such as Arctic Ocean ice coverage, a set of climate and energy teaching resources, and a dataset gallery that includes NOAA's archive of oral histories from people affected by climate change. However, the project remains financially precarious, relying entirely on public donations to operate.