Rebecca Lindsey is no stranger to challenging the status quo. From an early age, she built a reputation for being outspoken. Her mother, a teacher, encouraged an inquisitive spirit on Lindsey and her sister Mary, even to the chagrin of administrators at the schools they attended. Lindsey recalled a time when a high school principal confronted her mother: “Your daughters, they ask questions, they challenge me.”
“My mom said, ‘Well, are they rude about it?’ and he said, ‘Well, no.’” Asking questions, her mother said to the principal, is “what we raised them to do,’” Lindsey told The 19th.
A few years later, Lindsey was working at NASA as a technical writer for a satellite mission, her first job out of graduate school. In a room full of men, she spoke up during a meeting as the woman who had been training her watched in disbelief. Later, the woman told Lindsey that she had never spoken at any one of these meetings.
So last year, after the Trump administration shut down NOAA’s official climate information website, Climate.gov, and Lindsey became one of the roughly 280,000 federal workers to lose their jobs, she knew something had to be done.
Lindsey joined forces with former NOAA employees Anna Eshelman, and Mary Lindsey, her older sister, to become the core team behind the deactivated site’s successor, Climate.us, preserving over 15 years of key climate data and resources. The trove features key maps, educational materials and climate indicator reports, including the now-deleted Fifth National Climate Assessment, the government’s most comprehensive analysis of climate change that was at risk of being and lost to the public.
Lindsey told The 19th that the venture came out of a need for more science-backed climate information. For decades, Climate.gov was the go-to resource that translated complex climate science data into accessible public information, sharing critical tips on everything from how to survive heat waves to explainers on El Niño’s impacts on hurricanes to over 15 million site visitors per year. Funding for climate communications used to come straight from the federal government and for that to just be “yanked away” was jarring, Lindsey said.
“It’s not a pretty picture for climate communication and climate journalism right now,” Lindsey said. “We just felt like it was really important that there be a mature, robust, comprehensive online platform to serve as a hub. We felt that there needed to be a foundation, or cornerstone, that other people could build on and grow with.”
She said she firmly believes that the former Climate.gov, which is now rerouted to NOAA.gov, is unreliable because it is susceptible to political influence, and run by “cherry picked” climate denialists and contrarians.
“Trusted climate information should not disappear when politics change,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey is Climate.us’ managing editor. Eshelman is its lead designer. Mary Lindsey is its lead data visualizer. The three women were laid off after the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an initiative created by executive order in January 2025 to cut the size of the federal government, took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives and scientific-focused fields. Women, who made up 46 percent of the federal workforce, were hit particularly hard by the cuts. DOGE fizzled out several months before it was scheduled to sunset on July 4.
Before the cuts hit NOAA, Rebecca Lindsey had been Climate.gov’s program manager since 2023, Eshelman worked as an artist with the Climate.gov team for over four years and Mary Lindsey worked on the site for 13 years as a data visualization expert. At the time, women made up about 29 percent of STEM federal workers and 26 percent of all STEM leaders in the federal government, according to the 2019 Equal Employment Opportunity Report.
“We are communicators. We are not climate scientists,” Lindsey said of the trio behind Climate.us, noting that some outlets have incorrectly described the team as scientists. “Climate.us will be a bridge between scientists and the public.”
Since its June 23 launch, Climate.us has raised more than $400,000 through a mix of crowd funding and individual donations. Lindsey said that while there’s uncertainty ahead for the long run, it is enough to keep the project running until early 2027, and the widespread support was “very touching,” to see.
Some eagle-eyed visitors of Climate.gov may recognize the same “climate dashboard” on the new site, tracking the Earth’s temperature, greenhouse gas levels and rising sea levels. Lindsey said they aim to retain the most notable parts of the site, while growing and continuing to update.
“Who we are now and what we’re doing is not the full Climate.gov. But we feel like it’s worth it,” she said. “It’s something, and we’re going to do the best we can to keep the most important parts of the site updated.”
The project employs three people, though Lindsey estimates it will ultimately need 10 to 12 employees to be sustainable. More than 80 men and women scientists have also volunteered as subject-matter reviewers to help ensure scientific accuracy.
Lindsey said she grew up in a household that valued both the humanities and the sciences. She credits women teachers in physics, biology, chemistry and math with showing her that science was a field where women belonged.
“I think that having representation of women in the sciences and including women in leadership positions in the sciences is important,” Lindsey said. “I don’t know if I would have chosen the path I chose if I hadn’t had those pivotal women teachers telling me that science is a path where women can go.”
Today, Lindsey sees that same willingness to speak up and educate as a central role in Climate.us. In addition to the project’s climate work, Lindsey and Eshelman told The 19th that they hope Climate.us can provide similar inspiration to other women who want to pursue these careers.
“I would be thrilled if our example made other women feel empowered,” Lindsey said.
Eshelman added: “This core team of women came together organically, and just reflects the people and skillsets who stepped into these roles. That being said, I think it’s great to see women at the core for projects like this, and if seeing this team inspires other women to explore what’s possible, then I think that’s worth celebrating.”
