Florida Republicans Ban Use of Term "Climate Change"

In yet another example of the embrace of ignorance by today's Republican Party, reports are coming out of Florida that under GOP Gov. Rick Scott and others, the terms "climate change" and "global warming" are not to be used or whispered.  Meanwhile, Florida faces some of the most extreme challenges of any state from rising sea levels and climate change.  It should be noted that under Republicans, similar efforts to ignore reality have occurred in Virginia and North Carolina.  God forbid that one except reality if it will upset the knuckle dragging Christofascists and Tea Party lunatics who now control the GOP base.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the idiocy.  Here are excerpts:

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 have 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), reported writer Tristram Korten, have been restricted from using the term “climate change” or “global warming” in official correspondence.

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 like “climate change” and “global warming.” “We were told that we were not allowed to discuss anything that was not a true fact,”

In some southern parts of the state, like 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, has already invested in a new drainage system officials hope will keep the streets dry for the next three decades.

But the fact 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.”

Welcome to the fantasy world of today's GOP where we have Lindsey Graham who proudly admits to never having used e-mail in charge of a technology committee.   Only in today's GOP - and Christofascists circles - is ignorance worn as a badge of honor.