More national parks appear to defy Trump on Twitter
- Published
Death Valley National Park's Twitter account joined in posting messages seen as critical of President Trump
A US national park's Twitter account has inspired an online movement protesting against President Donald Trump's policy on climate change.
The Badlands National Park account's tweets about global warming were swiftly deleted after they appeared to undermine Mr Trump's position.
But if President Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, hoped it would silence his critics, he was wrong.
Instead, it was the catalyst for a host of people and parks to follow suit.
#Resist
Badlands National Park, in South Dakota, posted a series of tweets, external highlighting climate science data a few days after The National Park Service briefly shut its Twitter operation following an apparent clampdown.
It had retweeted photos about the turnout at President Trump's inauguration, suggesting numbers at the ceremony were lower those at President Obama's ceremony.
The national park accounts were eventually reactivated with an apology message.
It did not deter Badlands.
"Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate," one of its tweets said.
The posts were widely shared - including by the Democratic National Committee under the hashtag #Resist - but had all been removed by Tuesday evening.
Then on Wednesday Redwoods National Park tweeted about climate change, external and the role of trees as a carbon sink, adding: "More redwoods would mean less #climatechange".
Golden Gate National Recreation Area had earlier posted that, external "2016 was the hottest year on record for the 3rd year in a row", adding a link to a Nasa report on climate change.
Death Valley National Park's account, meanwhile, tweeted about Japanese-Americans, external interned at the park during World War Two.
While it made no mention of the president, other Twitter users interpreted the message as an objection to his pledge to ban Muslims from entering the country and to restrict the flow of refugees to the US.
An account called AltUSNatParkService, which describes itself as the "unofficial 'resistance' team" of the US Park Service, has also been set up to more directly protest against the president.
"We believe that today in Trump's America, science and the environment have a place at the forefront of society and policy," the account tweeted on Thursday.
It was quickly joined by Alt Nasa, described as "the unofficial #resist team of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration", while Rogue Nasa says it offers "real news" and "real facts".
The National Parks Service has refused to comment.
Meanwhile, a media blackout has been introduced at the US's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the Associated Press news agency.
Staff there have been banned from posting on any of the agency's social media accounts,
The main EPA account has not posted anything since 19 January, a day before Mr Trump's inauguration.
- Published25 January 2017
