--- title: 'Climate Change' Reportedly Banned Among Florida Environment Officials description: Environmental officials in Florida have been ordered not to refer to 'climate change,' an investigative report claims canonical: https://time.com/3736862/florida-department-environmental-protection-climate-change-ban-rick-scott/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-09T06:35:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:00:19.705Z article:section: Science og:title: 'Climate Change' a Banned Term for Florida Officials og:description: Dep. of Environmental Protection reportedly told staff not to use the term. og:url: https://time.com/3736862/florida-department-environmental-protection-climate-change-ban-rick-scott/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee5dafc93cb91f71/698782c1cd6848aa9709a0f1/180353865.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Climate Change Impacts South Florida Ecosystems og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Climate Change' a Banned Term for Florida Officials twitter:description: Dep. of Environmental Protection reportedly told staff not to use the term. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee5dafc93cb91f71/698782c1cd6848aa9709a0f1/180353865.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Florida Reportedly Bans Environment Officials From Mentioning _Climate Change_ by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Mar 9, 2015 6:35 AM UTC  Phillip Hughes, an ecologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, walks through an area of buttonwood trees killed by a saltwater incursion in Big Pine Key, Florida. Hughes says over the past 50 years, as sea levels rise, the Florida Keys upland vegetation has been dying off and replaced by salt-tolerant vegetation Phillip Hughes, an ecologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, walks through an area of buttonwood trees killed by a saltwater incursion in Big Pine Key, Florida. Hughes says over the past 50 years, as sea levels rise, the Florida Keys upland vegetation has been dying off and replaced by salt-tolerant vegetationJoe Raedle—Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Mar 9, 2015 6:35 AM UTC Underscoring the divisiveness of climate change in American politics, government officials at Florida’s main environment agency have reportedly been asked to [refrain](http://fcir.org/2015/03/08/in-florida-officials-ban-term-climate-change/) from mentioning it. Officials from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) were given an unwritten order not to use the words _climate change_ or _global warming_ in any official communication or reports, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR) claimed on Sunday. “We were told not to use the terms _climate change_, _global warming_ or _sustainability_,” Christopher Byrd, an attorney in DEP’s Office of General Counsel from 2008 to 2013, told FCIR in an interview. “That message was communicated to me and my colleagues by our superiors in the Office of General Counsel.” Other former DEP employees claimed to FCIR that the unwritten rule was implemented after Rick Scott, who has repeatedly denied climate change is the result of human activity, became governor of Florida in 2011. The DEP denies that it has a policy on the matter. [Read more at the FCIR](http://fcir.org/2015/03/08/in-florida-officials-ban-term-climate-change/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3736862/florida-department-environmental-protection-climate-change-ban-rick-scott/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3736862/florida-department-environmental-protection-climate-change-ban-rick-scott/"},"headline":"Florida Reportedly Bans Environment Officials From Mentioning Climate Change","datePublished":"2015-03-09T06:35:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:00:19.705Z","description":"An investigative report claims that global warming and sustainability are also prohibited terms","url":"https://time.com/3736862/florida-department-environmental-protection-climate-change-ban-rick-scott/","keywords":["climate change","Environment","global warming","Florida","rick scott"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee5dafc93cb91f71/698782c1cd6848aa9709a0f1/180353865.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee5dafc93cb91f71/698782c1cd6848aa9709a0f1/180353865.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Climate Change Impacts South Florida Ecosystems","caption":"Climate Change Impacts South Florida Ecosystems","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3736862/florida-department-environmental-protection-climate-change-ban-rick-scott/","name":"Florida Reportedly Bans Environment Officials From Mentioning Climate Change"}}]}] ```