Jane Zelikova, a soil ecologist, used to work for the U.S. Department of Energy researching methods of greenhouse gas emission reduction by fossil fuel industries. When Donald Trump was elected president, Zelikova, as well as her female colleagues, considered the incoming administration to be a threat to scientific work as well as to the planet. As a result, they formed the activist group 500 Women Scientists. Their fears were not unfounded, since the new administration was determined to remove Obama’s Clean Power Plan as well as reduce funding for the Energy Department’s renewable energy research programs. Thus, Zelikova quit her fellowship at the department to pursue a position at the nonprofit, Center for Carbon Removal, instead. Photo Credit:Emeric Fohlen/ZUMA.
