Badlands National Park goes rogue on Trump, tweets global warming data

The Twitter account for Badlands National Park let loose some entirely factual but now politically fraught statements regarding climate change on Tuesday afternoon. The Twitter account for Badlands National Park let loose some entirely factual but now politically fraught statements regarding climate change on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Seattlepi.com Screenshot Photo: Seattlepi.com Screenshot Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Badlands National Park goes rogue on Trump, tweets global warming data 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The Twitter account of Badlands National Park in South Dakota went rogue Tuesday and defied the Trump administration by publishing a series of tweets on climate change and its human causes.

The act of defiance was brief. The tweets from Badlands National Park soon came down, but not before going viral.

Actually, the act of speaking truth to power consisted of quoting factual data from a National Wildlife Federation guide on global warming. Said the first tweet:

"Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate."

A second tweet followed: "The pre-industrial concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 280 parts per million (ppm). As of December 2016, 404.93 ppm."

And there was a third Tweet from just east of Rapid City: "Flipside of the atmosphere; ocean acidity has increased 30% since the Industrial Revolution. 'Ocean Acidification' #climate #carboncycle."

Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate — Badlands Nat'l Park (@BadlandsNPS) January 24, 2017

President Trump has, in the past, used tweets to label climate change as a Chinese "hoax." The president's cabinet nominees have backpedaled from similar statements, particularly Secretary of Energy-designate Rick Perry.

The postings from Badlands will likely mean bad trouble for the perpetrator.

The new administration has shut down public information and social media from such agencies as the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services, and particularly the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Specifically, the Trump administration has told agencies of the U.S. Department of the Interior -- which oversees the National Park Service -- to "immediately cease use of government Twitter accounts" to talk about global warming.

And the National Park Service has already been in trouble.

On Inauguration Day, it retweeted photos showing that Trump's swearing-in crowd was much smaller than the throng that turned out for President Obama in 2009. Interior immediately shut down all Twitter accounts.

Its Twitter service was restored a day later, after the National Park Service deleted the crowd tweets and was made to eat crow. It said in a followup tweet:

"We regret the mistaken RT's from our account yesterday and look forward to continuing to share the beauty and history of our parks with you."

But climate change poses a danger to that beauty. For instance, all the glaciers in Glacier National Park are expected to melt by mid-century. Insect epidenics are killing high-elevation whitebark pine trees in Yellowstone National Park. Rising sea levels threaten Everglades National Park.

Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, said of the Inauguration Day tweet:

"My understanding is that because they had inappropriately violated their own social media policies, there was guidance that was put out to the department to act in compliance with the rules that were set forth."