Allegations of Climate Censorship at USDA

A series of internal emails from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) document that staff were instructed to use the term “weather extremes” instead of “climate change.” An email sent in February 2017 lists terms to avoid and suggests replacements, such as “build soil organic matter” instead of “sequester carbon.” The email states, “we won’t change the modeling, just how we talk about it.” The director of pubic affairs for the NRCS told reporters that the organization “has not received direction from USDA or the [Trump] administration to modify its communications on climate change or any other topic.” The agency is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). As of 17 August 2017, the NRCS website still contained content on climate change. Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI), the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, wrote to the Secretary of Agriculture to probe the extent of the language changes. Specifically, the Senator inquired about other directives to remove climate change from the lexicon of the USDA and if these changes will impact research projects related to climate change.      
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news