Florida population density map based on Census 2010 data courtesy of Wikipedia commons
When it comes to climate change, the peninsula of Florida is on the front lines. It is a highway for major hurricanes coming from east or west. And with a mean elevation of only 100 feet above sea level and the majority of its residents on or near the low flat coasts, even a small rise in the Atlantic will wreak havoc on beaches, homes and businesses. But Republicans in the sunshine state have come up with a rather novel solution
for all that:
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. ...
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. Gov. Scott, who won a second term in November, has repeatedly said he is not convinced that climate change is caused by human activity, despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The official whisper policy orchestrated at the highest levels of state government to address the most vulnerable state in the union to climate change is to
ban words. As long as that's the rationale, why not cut down on other problems faced by Floridians, say by banning the words hurricane or motor vehicle accident, too?