![]() Without statewide leadership and coordination, it is hard to systematically protect the coast, says Leonard Berry, a climate scientist and former director of the Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University. The Florida government disengaged from active statewide policymaking and planning on sea level rise and related issues, coastal scientists and environmental groups say, even as problems mounted and cities and towns began to organize on their own. The governor, however, made his priorities clear. Scott, in fact, did not ban the study of climate impacts outright (and the list of proscribed terms varied, so sea level rise was sometimes okay, sometimes not). In an e-mail to Scientific American about climate change denial, Florida DEP spokeswoman Dee Ann Miller wrote the state agency “does not have, nor has it had, any such policy in place,” and pointed to efforts to study and address sea level rise. If they pull back, the negative effects could be much bigger. ![]() Federal agencies have more responsibilities than state authorities, including gathering and analyzing authoritative data about effects on wide areas of the country. Environmental Protection Agency’s main page on the topic, although those plans were put on hold after word leaked out. Trump aides also reportedly ordered the deletion of the U.S. Now on the national level all references to climate change have been removed from the White House Web site (except those promising to eliminate Obama climate policies). Experts and local officials say it hampered community efforts to plan for worsening flooding and extreme weather. Rick Scott, a Republican who questions the scientific consensus on climate change. The Florida gag effort was part of a broader move by Gov. Donald Trump continues preliminary moves to muzzle climate communication from key federal agencies. “We were finally told we are the governor’s agency and this is what the governor wants, and so this is what we’re going to do.”įlorida’s hush order, along with a similar effort in North Carolina, offers a preview of what will happen if Pres. “We were told by the regional director that we were no longer supposed to say ‘global warming,’ ‘climate change’ or ‘sea level rise,’” says Trotta, who works on coral reef conservation. Kristina Trotta was working for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in Miami in 2014 when she and her colleagues were called into a staff meeting.
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