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The state of Florida is the region most susceptible to the effects of global warming in this country, according to scientists. Sea-level rise alone threatens 30 percent of the state’s beaches over the next 85 years.
But you would not know that by talking to officials at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the state agency on the front lines of studying and planning for these changes.
DEP officials have been ordered not to use the term “climate change” or “global warming” in any official communications, emails, or reports, according to former DEP employees, consultants, volunteers and records obtained by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.
The policy goes beyond semantics and has affected reports, educational efforts and public policy in a department with about 3,200 employees and $1.4 billion budget.
“We were told not to use the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming’ or ‘sustainability,’” said Christopher Byrd, an attorney with the DEP’s Office of General Counsel in Tallahassee from 2008 to 2013. “That message was communicated to me and my colleagues by our superiors in the Office of General Counsel.”
...
Wanless, the University of Miami professor, said the state government needs to acknowledge climate change as settled science and as a threat to people and property in Florida.
“You have to start real planning, and I’ve seen absolutely none of that from the current governor,” he said.
In Florida it will be hard to plan for climate change, he said, if officials can’t talk about climate change.
“It’s beyond ludicrous to deny using the term climate change,” Wanless said. “It’s criminal at this point.”
Wanless, the University of Miami professor, said the state government needs to acknowledge climate change as settled science
Wanless, the University of Miami professor, said the state government needs to acknowledge climate change as settled science and as a threat to people and property in Florida.
originally posted by: jrod
This is what happens when an ignorant voting population votes a in highly deceptive criminal administration with their own profiteering agenda as their priority, not the people, and certainly not the environment.
From the Miami Herald:
The state of Florida is the region most susceptible to the effects of global warming in this country, according to scientists. Sea-level rise alone threatens 30 percent of the state’s beaches over the next 85 years.
But you would not know that by talking to officials at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the state agency on the front lines of studying and planning for these changes.
DEP officials have been ordered not to use the term “climate change” or “global warming” in any official communications, emails, or reports, according to former DEP employees, consultants, volunteers and records obtained by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.
The policy goes beyond semantics and has affected reports, educational efforts and public policy in a department with about 3,200 employees and $1.4 billion budget.
“We were told not to use the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming’ or ‘sustainability,’” said Christopher Byrd, an attorney with the DEP’s Office of General Counsel in Tallahassee from 2008 to 2013. “That message was communicated to me and my colleagues by our superiors in the Office of General Counsel.”
...
Wanless, the University of Miami professor, said the state government needs to acknowledge climate change as settled science and as a threat to people and property in Florida.
“You have to start real planning, and I’ve seen absolutely none of that from the current governor,” he said.
In Florida it will be hard to plan for climate change, he said, if officials can’t talk about climate change.
“It’s beyond ludicrous to deny using the term climate change,” Wanless said. “It’s criminal at this point.”
When I first saw this article, I had to check the date to make sure this was not an April fool's joke. This is real. The Republican's in Florida have waged war on science.
This unwritten policy went into effect after Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011 and appointed Herschel Vinyard Jr. as the DEP’s director, according to former DEP employees.
“DEP does not have a policy on this,” the department’s press secretary, Tiffany Cowie, wrote in an email. She declined to respond to three other emails requesting more information.
“There’s no policy on this,” wrote Jeri Bustamante, Scott’s spokeswoman, in an email.
But four former DEP employees from offices around the state say the order was well known and distributed verbally statewide.
originally posted by: mc_squared
Wanless, the University of Miami professor, said the state government needs to acknowledge climate change as settled science and as a threat to people and property in Florida.
I'm so confused - I thought it was the government that's telling the scientists what to think about climate change, not vice versa.
We already know the whole thing is just a big hoax so governments can get the taxes and all the climate scientists are only goin along with the plan for the funding.
Why are you trying to tell me the scientists are actually insisting the problem is real, while the government is trying to deny them? This doesn't make any sense.
Why is the same thing happening in North Carolina?
New Law in North Carolina Bans Latest Scientific Predictions of Sea-Level Rise
And Canada??
Muzzled scientists: The challenges of reporting on climate change in Canada
None of this makes any sense! I don't get it. Everybody just shut up. The cognitive dissonance...it burns....it burns so bad.....
originally posted by: arpgme
a reply to: jrod
So now if someone wants to hide truth they can just ban certain words.
Who does an April Fool's joke in the beginning of March? The whole point is that it's in April...
originally posted by: Nyiah
(if memory serves , the Al Goreites said it'd be under rising waters by now anyway)
originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: johnwick
Most scientist who actually study this agree that the science is settled(90%+) on human induced climate change, but I did not post here to attempt to argue with anyone about the science of climate change.
I posted this here because of the of the insanity that is happening here. The Government of the State of Florida are ignoring the term climate change and global warming and censoring scientist who suggest that perhaps the state should use their resources to address the ramifications of possible climate change. This is not that much different than a state that censor's evolution in it's science classes.
This is a criminal act that the GOP have taken here is what many of my fellow Floridians believe.
In my eyes this is a war on science that has been waged by the Republicans!
originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: johnwick
You are twisting words to make it seem like what happened here is something that it is not.
They are censoring the findings and research of the vast majority of experts on the issue at hand.
This is an out right attack on science and the 1st Amendment.