Climate.gov was destroyed. Open data saved it

When the Trump Administration defunded NOAA and took Climate.gov offline, former federal employees including Rebecca Lindsey and her sister Mary rebuilt the site as Climate.us, preserving over 15 years of critical climate data and resources including the deleted Fifth National Climate Assessment. The rescue was possible because U.S. government data is public domain by law, allowing the datasets to be legally migrated to a new home. While the new site currently relies on donations rather than government funding, it demonstrates how open data policies can protect vital public information from being lost when government infrastructure is dismantled.