It is one of the profound ironies of climate change that a state besieged by its effects — where coastal islands face existential threats and daily floods render major thoroughfares difficult to navigate — is also populated by powerful politicians who express deep suspicion of the relevant science.
This is Florida, the state of Sen. Marco Rubio (R), who said last year he doesn’t “believe human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate.” This is Florida, the state of former governor and Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush, who in 2009 called himself a global warming “skeptic.” And this is Florida, the state of Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who has punted on the issue. “Well, I’m not a scientist,” he told the Miami Herald’s Marc Caputo last year when asked if he was becoming less skeptical of man-made climate change.
According to a Sunday report from the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, Scott’s aversion to discussions of man-made climate change has been brought to bear on a department charged with protecting a state that already exhibits many of the changes scientists predict will overtake other coastal regions. Officials with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), as reported by writer Tristram Korten, have been restricted from using the term “climate change” or “global warming” in official correspondence.
[Why this Florida scientist had to remove the term ‘climate change’ from her study]
[Things just got very hot for climate deniers’ favorite scientist]
The investigative reporting outfit called it an “unwritten policy,” which was “distributed verbally statewide” and has “affected” how one of the largest departments in the state, armed with a $1.4 billion budget and 3,200 employees, does business. “The irony is clearly apparent,” Korten told The Washington Post on Sunday night. “Florida is a peninsula with 1,200 miles of coastline, and when it comes to climate change, we’re the canary in the coalmine. And we’re relying on the state government to protect us and to plan for these changes.”
The report, published in the Miami Herald, was bolstered by the testimony of numerous former employees and e-mails from around the state. Kristina Trotta, who used to work in the DEP’s Miami office, said she was told during a 2014 meeting that she couldn’t employ terms such as “climate change” and “global warming.” “We were told that we were not allowed to discuss anything that was not a true fact,” she said. “… The regional administrator told us that we are the governor’s agency; this is the message from the governor’s office. And that is the message we will portray.”
In a brief interview with The Washington Post, Trotta said in some ways the ban wasn’t a surprise. She was familiar with Scott’s reservations on climate change. But in other ways, she was blown away. “It was a surprise, given what a clear threat climate change is to coral reefs and also to the state of Florida in general,” she told The Post.
It’s unclear how the alleged order came down. One state spokesman told the investigative outfit that “there’s no policy on this.”
The Post got the same answer. “DEP has no such policy in place,” department spokesman Dee Ann Miller wrote in an e-mail late Sunday night, pointing to myriad ways the state has monitored and studied rising sea levels and how they will affect coastal communities. “The department constantly monitors changes we identify in Florida ecosystems and works with other local and state agencies to ensure Florida’s communities and natural resources are protected.”
She didn’t use the terms “climate change” or “global warming” in her response and declined to respond when asked whether she was aware of any unwritten policy that forbids those terms.
John Tupps, a spokesperson for Gov. Rick Scott, told the Washington Post “there is no policy in existence. … Allegations and claims made in the [Florida investigative article] are not true. This policy, it doesn’t exist.”
[This animation of shrinking sea ice is a startling illustration of climate change]
Korten, for his part, said some state officials stymied his efforts when he started asking specific questions. “Our story doesn’t say how deep this goes into the state government,” he said. “I called them repeatedly for comment and e-mailed, and no one would comment.”
If the findings are accurate, Florida offers a cautionary tale of how politics can bog down an urgent scientific call to action. Reports, such as one last year by the National Climate Assessment, call South Florida “uniquely vulnerable to Sea Level Rise. … There is an imminent threat of increased inland flooding during heavy rain events in low-lying coastal areas such as southeast Florida, where just inches of sea level rise will impair the capacity of storm water drainage systems to empty into the ocean.”
In some southern parts of the state, such as Miami Beach, sea rise is no longer something to debate, but something to deal with daily. The city, expected to spend $400 million to combat rising tides in the next five years, already has invested in a new drainage system that officials hope will keep the streets dry for the next three decades.
But the fact that the state’s highest elected office may have reservations about climate change has outraged some local academics. “You have to start real planning, and I’ve seen absolutely none of that from the current governor,” University of Miami geologist Harold Wanless told the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. “It’s beyond ludicrous to deny using the term climate change. It’s criminal at this point.”
This post was updated after publication to reflect a statement provided by a spokesperson for Gov. Rick Scott.
[Throw Florida’s apparent rejection of the phrase ‘climate change’ onto the pile of anti-climate politics]
Terrence McCoy writes on foreign affairs for The Washington Post’s Morning Mix. Follow him on Twitter here.
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Badpelican
3:45 PM PST
The legislative equivalent of sticking one’s fingers in one’s ears and proclaiming, “I don’t wanna hear it!” Classy.
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NuMil3Design
3/10/2015 6:48 PM PST
Could Gov. Rick Scott and his administration be so ignorant that they would ban the use of descriptive words and phrases commonly used in the discussions and debates on the subject at hand? <<<<^^^^ I dunno. I banned them from the first paragraph of this post, and nobody's under water because of it.
Just in case there is a list of banned words & phrases, Gov. Scott, I'd like suggest a few more to add to the list:
snorkel
swimming lessons
shark repellent
Arks - 15% off - While they last.
Gainesville oceanfront property
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christinecordaro
3/10/2015 3:35 PM PST
This is just like the Mad Hatter in Through the Looking Glass!! But that's OK-let them remain in their state of denial and when the seas sweep over Florida, obliterating it forever, we will hear them praying to their non-exixteng god! And best of all, we won't have to worry about Florida screwing up any more elections!
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dalyplanet
3/10/2015 4:35 PM PST
It that the plot of your climate fiction book idea?
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Cj Gorele
3/10/2015 3:12 PM PST
I have just finished shoveling my drive-way for the last 3 hours.
When is 'global Warming' coming?
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The-Q
3/10/2015 3:02 PM PST
Meanwhile... unarmed young black men are gunned down without ever having said the words " “climate change” and “global warming.”
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Waterloo1
3/10/2015 2:59 PM PST
Thanks to denial power, Republican ice sheets and glaciers are growing back every day while Democrat ones melt helplessly .
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Idliketosay
3/10/2015 10:30 AM PST
Wanna hear something even better? Our illustrious representatives have today voted out of committee for floor discussion a Bathroom Safety bill that forbids the use of public bathrooms by transvestites. No w I ask you. . .have we nothing better to do? have we nothing better to spend our money on but more cops to check our bathroom etiquette??? And how in H are they going to enforce this bill? What a bunch of doofuses--your republicans at work. . .or play??? Whichever, it's way out in right field. . .
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Waterloo1
3/10/2015 2:57 PM PST
Pursuing transvestites is fun. Climate change is complex and scary. So which issue offers opportunity for clear demagoguery ? The transvestites win again !
Threatened by climate change, Florida reportedly bans term ‘climate change’ – The Washington Post.