Last Friday, the Donald Trump administration announced plans to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development, leaving employees with the choices of retiring, applying for new jobs, or waiting to be fired. The elimination of the EPA’s research arm is expected to cripple scientific progress in environmental fields at a time when climate disasters are growing more frequent and more severe each season. Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University, acknowledged how challenging the change from the Biden to Trump administrations has been and said she sometimes feels overwhelmed and frightened. But, she said, she finds solace in the fact that many people are still working through these issues regardless of the executive branch’s actions. “It’s been a difficult time. But I want to remind people that no matter who is in office, the work of protecting our communities, the work to strengthen our infrastructure, our society, the ...