Federal government email suggests censorship over ‘climate change’ – Washington Examiner

Department of Agriculture staff members have been advised to use the term "weather extremes" rather than "climate change" in their government work, according to a report.

An email sent to staffers at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, (NRCS) -- a USDA unit responsible for farming, ranching, and private forest land conservation -- lists terms that should not be used and suggests possible replacements in light of the Trump administration's position on climate science, The Guardian reported.

The note, sent by Soil Health Director Bianca Moebius-Clune, outlines a shift in language around the cause of human-driven climate change, proposing the term "reduce greenhouse gases" be nixed in favor of "build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency." In addition, "sequester carbon" would be altered to "build soil organic matter."

"We won't change the modeling, just how we talk about it," Moebius-Clune wrote on February 16, saying the language had been provided to her staff with the suggestion to pass it on to colleagues within the department. "There are a lot of benefits to putting carbon back in the sail (sic), climate mitigation is just one of them."

Moebius-Clune added a coworker from USDA's public affairs unit had given her advice to "tamp down on discretionary messaging right now."

Trump has frequently questioned climate change science and his administration formally gave the UN notice Friday of the United States' intention to withdraw from Paris climate accord. Many scientists believe climate change, and the subsequent warming of the globe, is being caused by the burning of fossil fuels and other human factors.

"The Natural Resources Conservation Service has not received direction from USDA or the administration to modify its communications on climate change or any other topic," a NRCS spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner. "These emails, sent in the first days of the new administration to a small number of agency staff, did not reflect the direction of senior agency leadership."

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Federal government email suggests censorship over 'climate change' - Washington Examiner