Trump Tried To Shut Down the National Parks Twitter - So They Went Rogue

The Trump presidency is certainly doing A LOT of things - from potentially removing the United States from the United Nations to repealing the Affordable Care Act and, uh, now getting extremely mad at parks? After issuing a gag order to prevent the EPA and other public-facing agencies from talking to reporters or posting updates on social media, the official Twitter account for the Badlands National Park Service dared to challenge this rad new fascist policy by tweeting some science facts:

Note that these are objective facts and measurements, all of which are 100% non-political and simply things that are extremely relevant to parks services, given it's about nature. But if there's one area where you do NOT challenge (President) Donald Trump, it's Twitter (he's a fan, maybe you've heard?) - the tweets were soon deleted and the Twitter account made silent.

But in an act of retaliation, employees of the National Parks Service set up an unofficial, non-government-controlled Twitter account - @AltUSNatParkService, and have been tweeting relelntlessly since they were silenced from the official account - a mix of facts around the science of climate change, responses to supportive members of the public, and random jokes about the weird 1984-themed nightmare we're currently undergoing:

Mr Trump, you may have taken us down officially. But with scientific evidence & the Internet our message will get out.

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 24, 2017

Respect goes out to our brothers and sisters at the @BadlandsNPS. When they silence you, we will speak for you.

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 24, 2017

Global sea level rose about 17 centimeters  in the last century. The rate in the last decade is nearly double that of the last century.

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 24, 2017

Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with 15 of the 16 warmest years on record occurring since 2001 #climate  #Badlands

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 24, 2017

We don't want any trouble. We just want to keep peer-reviewed "factually accurate" climate science flowing out of US institutions.

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017

Did no one tell President Trump about the Streisand Effect?
You silence our colleagues officially, and we will scream when we get home.

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017

"We will not go quietly into the night!

We will not vanish without a fight!

We're going to live on!

We'll fight climate change denial" http://pic.twitter.com/HWNhAKmaBz

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017

Our job is to preserve the natural & cultural resources & values of the National Park System for enjoyment, education, and inspiration.

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017

No matter our politics: Dems, Reps, Indy, Martian, we all want the best for our parks & that starts with understanding the Earth

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017

The account has managed to balloon to over 400,000 followers in less than 24 hours - and it's growing at a rapid pace. And even the original (and now silenced) Badlands NPS account has exploded to nearly 200,000 followers - a great deal more than the 7,000 followers it had prior to all of this.

This does sounds SUSPICIOUSLY like a plotline from Parks & Rec, right?

Parks and Rekt#ResistTrump

-- AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017

Source: www.collegehumor.com