RIGHT DIRECTION

Florida Appoints Nation’s First Chief Science Officer to Fight Climate Crisis

In the first such state-level position in the nation, the officer will be tasked with providing scientific facts about the climate to lawmakers.

With a climate denier in the White House, Florida has created a post to help it tackle the climate crisis at a state level. Tom Frazer has been appointed chief science officer—the first such state-level position in the nation—and his main job will be to provide lawmakers and others who help shape state policies with accurate, up-to-date scientific facts. “There is a lot of information out there and it’s distributed widely throughout the state,” Frazer told The Guardian. “It’s important to harness that information, simplify it, provide it to individuals responsible for making policy and carrying out management actions, so in that regard science is intended to really inform those policy decisions.” He added that two priorities will be improving the state’s water-quality issues and tackling rising sea levels. Frazer most recently served as director of the University of Florida’s school of natural resources and environment.