President Trump’s cuts to federal science funding “have decimated the capacity of scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service (NWS) to keep us alerted, safe, and aware of extreme weather like storms, flooding, heat waves, and wildfires,” said Juan Declet-Barreto from the Union of Concerned Scientists at a recent conversation hosted by EcoMadres, Moms’ Latino engagement program.
Juan points to science funding cuts as the reason summer 2025 will likely be an especially perilous “Danger Season,” a term the Union of Concerned Scientists coined. Moms recognize threats from global warming happen year-round, but in this EcoMadres Investigates conversation, we learned why scientists have begun using this term for the period between May and October. This is the time of year when climate hazards like extreme heat, wildfires, storms, and floods collide and intensify.
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Amanda Rosa from Extreme Weather Survivors (EWS) and Perla Marvell from Yale Climate Connections en Español joined Juan on the panel, which was moderated by EcoMadres’ Karin Stein. They examined compounding weather threats, systemic injustices, and the erosion of federal clear air and climate protections, while spotlighting ways to build resilience and keep people safe rooted in trust, community, and science.
Here are four key takeaways from the discussion:
1. Danger Season is here, and federal funding cuts aren’t going to help
Juan explained that the Union of Concerned Scientists began using the term “Danger Season” based on a data-driven assessment of overlapping crises. They track extreme weather alerts and have noticed in recent years an influx of alerts across the country from May to December. “We’re only in June, and most of the population has received one of these alerts” already this year, Juan said.
What makes 2025 especially troubling is that our early warning systems have been weakened by budget cuts. “That decimation is starting to degrade the alerts that have kept the population of this country safe for many years,” he said.
The compounding effect is striking. “We’re going into a hurricane season that is forecasted to be worse than normal, and we’re going into extreme heat,” he added. “When disasters happen, there’s diminished support from FEMA to assist people with recovery… States do not have the economic capacity to withstand large-scale disasters.”
2. Recovery from disaster requires trust and dignity for the survivors
While climate hazards are increasingly widespread, the burden is not equally shared. Black, Latino, Indigenous, and economically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected because they do not have equal access to safe housing, good jobs, and health care and thus are less equipped to prepare, endure, and recover.
Amanda, who works with disaster survivors at EWS, emphasized that recovery isn’t just about rebuilding homes—it’s about rebuilding trust and dignity. “The disaster doesn’t end when the headlines fade,” she said. “Survivors are not just victims. They are experts. They know what went wrong. Our job is to create spaces where they can be leaders, not just recipients of aid.”
She described how, after a wildfire tears through a neighborhood, spaces like WhatsApp groups and peer-to-peer Slack channels can become recovery and advocacy hubs. “Without trust, there is no recovery,” she said. Once trust is established, Amanda says communities don’t just heal, but set the stage for change so that those experiencing a future disaster can have better outcomes.
3. Language access and local messengers matter
Perla, a science communicator focused on Spanish-speaking communities, raised concerns about how language barriers and institutional neglect are putting lives at risk. “There’s not much infrastructure in this country for giving people timely messaging about extreme weather events in their own language,” she said.
And even when alerts are delivered in languages other than English, they’re often translated by artificial intelligence (AI) without the context needed to be helpful. Perla shares that among Spanish speakers, there are many differences in word meanings. “How do you effectively communicate what to do when you get a tornado warning,” she asks. “You have to think of the context for the human connection.”
She also highlighted the importance of trusted messengers. “On social media, there’s so much disinformation, and Latinos are highly susceptible to spreading mis- and disinformation,” Perla said. To combat this problem, Perla says her organization tries to reach community leaders with information they can relay back to those in their communities by incorporating YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram to meet people on the platforms they use most.
4. Policies rooted in sound science are under attack
One of the most urgent messages came from Juan, who warned that the scientific foundation of U.S. climate protections—EPA’s Endangerment Finding—is on the verge of being dismantled. The Endangerment Finding legally obligates the government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. “Removing the Endangerment Finding from rulemaking is only going to harm people. It takes away the scientific basis, so it takes away the ability for us to do our part. It’s only going to make us more exposed, and increase our risk because we will not be using the sound science to protect us.”
As the panelists made clear, the stakes are high and raising our voices is important. As more and more people across the country experience extreme weather events and global warming impacts, we must have the tools and platform to keep ourselves safe, build resilience, and limit the climate pollution supercharging extreme weather.
Watch the full discussion here.
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