Government Agencies Responsible For Addressing Climate Change Barred From Referring To It (VIDEO)

Two years ago, either during or shortly before I began teaching a unit on George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984, I came across an article about the state of Florida’s ban on the use of the terms “climate change” and “global warming.” I read it with my students, who were shocked actual governments engaged in the kind of linguistic legerdemain Orwell presents in his fictional Oceania.

We understand the power of language. We know that unless we give voice to issues, those issues run the risk of never being addressed, or addressed so marginally they’re dismissed as irrelevant. We needn’t look further for evidence of this than the partisan controversy surrounding the greatest existential threat facing life on Earth.

The mainstream media won’t talk about it, so those who will are labeled “alarmists” by those retreating behind right-wing talking points claiming the “science is unsettled,” or, to quote President Donald Trump, it’s a “hoax.”

Now, the Trump administration has taken a page out of Florida’s playbook.

According to a piece in Politico, a supervisor at the Energy Department’s international climate office has ordered staff to refrain from using the phrases “climate change,” “emissions reduction” or “Paris Agreement” in written memos, briefings, or other written communication. This directive came the same day President Trump signed an executive order at Environmental Protection Agency headquarters to undo most of President Obama’s climate regulatory initiatives.

The Office of International Climate and Clean Energy (notice “climate” is in the title) plays a pivotal role in U.S. participation in the Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation, two international endeavors Obama started designed to promote clean energy technology.

Dept. of Energy (DOE) spokeswoman Lindsey Geisler denies there has been any change, however:

“No words or phrases have been banned for this office or anyone in the department.”

Another source claims that, although there has not been any formal position on language pertaining to climate change, it’s preferable among DOE officials to use words like “infrastructure” and “jobs.”

A State Department official reported:

“We have definitively not received anything on banned words, not even orally. But people are doing a lot of reading into tea leaves. People are taking their own initiatives to not use certain words based on hints from transition people. Everyone is encouraged to finding different ways of talking about things.”

Liz Perera, climate policy director at Sierra Club, replied:

“What exactly is this office supposed to call itself now? The international C****** office? Ignoring the climate crisis will not make it go away, will not create jobs in the booming clean energy economy, and will not make our country great.”

All this at a time when the Consortium on Climate and Health released a report delineating the ways climate is already adversely affecting health, including causing asthma and other respiratory diseases.

But I guess if we don’t acknowledge that either, we can expect it to disappear down the memory hole with everything else Trump and company thinks shouldn’t be part of the conversation.

Featured Image By Andrew – Climate Change Camp Protest Via Flickr/CC-By-SA-2.0.

Ted Millar is writer and teacher. His work has been featured in myriad literary journals, including Better Than Starbucks, The Broke Bohemian, Straight Forward Poetry, Caesura, Circle Show, Cactus Heart, Third Wednesday, and The Voices Project. He is also a contributor to The Left Place blog on Substack, and Medium.