When the Trump administration pulled the plug on climate.gov in 2017, it removed a critical repository of federal climate information. However, former administrators and volunteers preserved much of the material, leveraging the fact that government-created content cannot be copyrighted. Their efforts culminated in climate.us, which officially launched this week with the complete restoration of the original site's resources.

The new platform brings back climate.gov's extensive 15-year archive of news, expert blogs, and visual climate indicators. Users can access interactive maps, data pathways, climate literacy materials, and classroom resources that vanished during the federal shutdown. Perhaps most significantly, the site restores public access to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a comprehensive report on climate impacts across the United States.

The team behind climate.us formed a nonprofit to ensure the site's sustainability beyond simple restoration. Rather than merely replicating what was lost, they're expanding the mission to include new educational materials and public service tools. Their goal is creating clearer pathways for understanding climate science amid ongoing political tensions.

This grassroots rebuild demonstrates how dedicated volunteers can preserve scientific information when political pressures threaten its availability. For researchers, educators, and citizens seeking reliable climate data, climate.us now serves as the functional successor to the defunct federal site.