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Watch Climate Scientists’ Heartbreaking Pleas to President Trump

This video is just as sad as it sounds.

Environmentalist Collin Maessen released a new YouTube video this week, featuring his interviews with climate scientists at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting. He asked them simply: what would they say to Donald Trump if given the chance?

And the result is pretty heartbreaking, because in case you haven't heard yet, many scientists are terrified of Trump and his nominees.

Video: Collin Maessen/YouTube

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The video, which includes seven scientists from seven universities, is a mix of despairing pleas, objection to political agendas bending the truth, and simplified explanations about basic climate science (news flash: the Earth's systems aren't stable).

"In the United States today, the number one predictor of whether we think the climate is changing and humans are responsible, is not how much we know about science—it is simply where we fall on the political spectrum," said atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University in the video. "But a thermometer isn't a Democrat or a Republican. It doesn't give us a different answer depending on how we vote."

Read More:This Moth With a Golden Head Was Named After Trump

"For me the nightmare scenario is that the incoming administration will cripple the data that lies at the heart of our research as climate scientists," said Kim Cobb (of Georgia Tech), "[Or] compromise the satellites that help us see coming threats."

Peter Gleick of Pacific Institute and Sarah Myhre of the University of Washington spent their time on camera just regurgitating that climate change is real. Stephan Lewandowsky (University of Bristol) used the chance to say: "Our entire civilization is based on science." And, most depressing of all, Richard Alley (Pennsylvania State University) pulled his phone out of his pocket to show that science matters.

That's where we're at.

When asked what they would say to Mr. Trump, several scientists resorted to just emphasizing that science is important. With Trump sworn in as the 45th President of the United States today, their message could not come at a more critical time.

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