"Our world is changing. It's changing rapidly. Like, we can see climate changing our world as we speak, but also, we're losing nature at unprecedented rates, and there's an equity crisis as well."

That was University of Washington professor Phil Levin two years ago. At the time, he’d just been tapped by the Biden Administration for a one of a kind mission: writing the most all encompassing review ever of nature throughout the entirety of the United States. 

“The National Nature Assessment,” as it was called, was to be a wide ranging report on the state of and potential threats to the U.S.’s varied ecosystems. 

"Now is the time to break down the silos between climate, nature, and equity and bring them together... and I can't think of anything else I would want to do and anything else that would be more meaningful to me in my life and more valuable I think for the country."

Over two years, Levin worked at the White House and coordinated a massive team of authors and federal agencies. The team was ready to submit their first draft of the assessment in February this year, before they heard from the Trump administration that the whole project was being shut down. 

Since then, the scientists involved in the National Nature Assessment have pushed forward to complete their work – with or without the White House’s blessing.

Guests:

• Phil Levin, professor in the University of Washington College of the Environment

Related Links:

• KUOW - Seattle area scientist leads U.S. efforts toward 'holistic picture' of the climate crisis
• Opinion | We Found a Work Around to Trump Defunding Science - The New York Times
• Trump Killed a Major Report on Nature. They’re Trying to Publish It Anyway. - The New York Times

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