Why can't environmental variables set in python persist?

Question

I was hoping to write a python script to create some appropriate environmental variables by running the script in whatever directory I\'ll be executing some simulation code,

Answer 1

If you set environment variables within a python script (or any other script or program), it won't affect the parent shell.

Edit clarification: So the answer to your question is yes, it is true. You can however export from within a shell script and source it by using the dot invocation

in fooexport.sh

export FOO="bar"

at the command prompt

$ . ./fooexport.sh
$ echo $FOO
bar