The Miami Herald is reporting that the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting has uncovered former Florida officials who are accusing Florida Governor Rick Scott's administration of having an unwritten policy of banning the terms 'climate change' and 'global warming' from official correspondence and speech.

In the US state most at risk from rising seas due to climate change, the officials, mainly from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) were silenced by the threat of retribution if they did not follow the unwritten policy.



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.

Related “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.”

This is unconscionable and should be a criminal offense in the state where over 30% of the coast and Miami, the fourth largest urban region in US , is projected to be underwater within 50-85 years if we continue on our dangerous carbon emissions path.

Take a look at the Florida governor being schooled by concerned Florida climate scientists. Notice the dismissal and disinterest by our wingnut, corrupted, sociopath governor.