US Government department bans staff from using the term ‘climate change’

In a new directive reminiscent of George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where people were only allowed to communicate in an ever diminishing language called “newspeak,” staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, and instead instructed to use “weather extremes.”

The directive dated 16th February, which has only just come to light, comes as US President Donald Trump further distances the US from global moves to limit global warming following the formal announcement by the US last week that it has withdrawn it's support from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The consequences of climate change

A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation, show that the Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change, writes the Guardian.

A missive from Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health, listed terms that should be avoided by staff and and the alternatives to be used instead. Staff were told to avoid the term “climate change adaptation” and instead opt for “resilience to weather extremes”. 

When talking about the cause of climate change, sorry “weather extremes”, saying people should “reduce greenhouse gases” is a big no-no. Rather, staff should talk in favour of “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency”.