Florida, US (BBN)-Officials from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection were banned from using the terms “climate change” or “global warming” in official communication, a report has revealed.
The ban affected the department’s employees, consultants and volunteers and also covered email and reports, according to an investigation by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, reports the Sky News.
“We were told not to use the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming’ or ‘sustainability,'” Christopher Byrd, an attorney with the agency’s Office of General Counsel in Tallahassee from 2008 to 2013, was quoted as saying in the report, which also cites other officials.
The ban at the agency that deals with environmental studies and risks entered into force after Governor Rick Scott’s term began in 2011, but it was never a written policy, the reports said.
Mr Scott, who won another term last year, is a climate change sceptic.
In the past he has said “I’m not a scientist” when asked whether he believed climate change is man-made.
On another occasion in 2011, according to the Miami Herald, he said: “I’ve not been convinced that there’s any man-made climate change.”
The overwhelming majority of scientists agree that climate change is a real problem and that it is man-made.
The department’s press office and the governor’s spokesman both told the newspaper that there is “no policy on this”.
BBN/SK/AD-09Mar15-6:20pm (BST)
