Want to write to your representative about Trump's plan to dismantle NCAR? Here's a template.

Dear Representative [Last Name],

I am writing to urge you to oppose the Trump administration's recently announced plan to dismantle the National Science Foundation's National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) based in Boulder, Colorado. NCAR conducts vital research that improves weather forecasting and long‑term climate projections for the United States and the world.

Administration officials have tried to draw a line between "weather research" (which they claim to support) and "climate alarmism." This is a false distinction. Weather and climate are governed by the same physical laws. The same atmospheric physics and fluid dynamics that shape tomorrow's storm also determine long‑term climate trends.

There is no "alarmism" in acknowledging the basic science. Greenhouse gases trap heat by absorbing and re‑emitting outgoing longwave radiation, reducing the amount of energy the Earth system can radiate to space. As a result, the planet is currently taking in more energy than it loses. This radiative imbalance, rooted in well‑established physics, is not a matter of belief, religion, or partisan identity. Its consequences will affect everyone, regardless of who they voted for.

The broad, long‑term trend of human‑driven global warming is well understood. What remains more uncertain—and where research like NCAR's is indispensable—are the regional and local impacts, the changing behavior of extremes (heat waves, floods, hurricanes, wildfires), shifts in long‑standing precipitation patterns, and the risk of crossing tipping points that could drive climate change in self‑reinforcing and extremely difficult‑to‑reverse ways.

Breaking up or dismantling NCAR would have long‑term negative consequences for American science, the economy, and national security. NCAR's work underpins tools that farmers, utilities, emergency managers, the aviation sector, and the U.S. military rely on for planning and preparedness. Its supercomputing resources, observational platforms, and collaborative network of university partners cannot simply be recreated elsewhere on short notice.

This decision appears driven far more by political ideology and hostility to climate science than by any serious assessment of the national interest. Weakening a world‑class U.S. research institution will not change the underlying physics; it will only leave our country less informed and less prepared.

I respectfully ask you to do everything in your power to stop this move: speak out publicly, support legislative and appropriations efforts to protect NCAR, and press for aggressive oversight of any attempt to dismantle or degrade its capabilities.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and for your service.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Your Address]

[City, State ZIP]