To: Governor Ron DeSantis
Governor Scott: Lift the Ban on Using The Phrases "Climate Change" and "Global Warming"
This campaign has ended.
Governor Scott: Florida is uniquely vulnerable to sea level rise and increased inland flooding due to climate change. However, you have banned employees of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from using the phrases "climate change" and "global warming." Florida cannot address these serious issues if its environmental protection agency is barred from even characterizing them. We urge you to lift this ban immediately so that the DEP can address this serious issue, which threatens the state.
Thank You,
Why is this important?
1. The 2014 national climate assessment for the US found an “imminent threat of increased inland flooding” in Florida due to climate change and called the state “uniquely vulnerable to sea level rise.”
2. Officials with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency in charge of setting conservation policy and enforcing environmental laws in the state, issued directives in 2011 barring thousands of employees from using the phrases “climate change” and “global warming.”
3. A report ties the alleged policy, which is described as “unwritten”, to the election of Republican governor Rick Scott and his appointment of a new department director that year. Scott, who was re-elected last November, has declined to say whether he believes in climate change caused by human activity.
4. According to employees’ accounts, the ban left damaging holes in everything from educational material published by the agency to training programs to annual reports on the environment that could be used to set energy and business policy.