Many years ago, when I was starting out as a climate activist, some of us got a tour of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in the Federal Building in Asheville. We learned what an amazing agency it is, and what a treasure we have in our own community. Now it is being gutted by Elon Musk’s DOGE team , and there is even talk of selling the Federal Building in which it is housed. This is a tragedy and I’ll tell you why. NOAA is home of the National Centers for Environmental Information and the world’s largest archive of weather, geophysical, oceanographic and climate data. This data is used for a variety of applications including agriculture, construction, energy, forestry, health, recreation and tourism, transportation and water resources management. NOAA’s data is critical to our modern lifestyles. Dr. Juan Declet-Barreto, senior social scientist for climate vulnerability in the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of…..