Energy Department’s “List of Words to Avoid” Grows to Include “Climate Change,” “Green” and “Decarbonization”
WASHINGTON — In a nod to the dystopian policies being rolled out by the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy on Friday added “climate change,” “green,” and “decarbonization” to its “list of words to avoid,” according to reports. Those words join “energy transition,” “‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ energy,” “emissions,” “sustainability/sustainable,” “carbon/CO2 ‘footprint’” and “tax breaks/tax credits/subsidies.”
In response, Meghan Pazik, senior policy advocate with Public Citizen’s Climate Program, issued the following statement:
“Banning the phrases ‘climate change,’ ‘green,’ ‘decarbonization’ and others from DOE’s work is a clear signal of the Trump administration’s suppression of science, weaponizing deliberate uncertainty, and reiterating once more its authoritarian agenda. This isn’t a small slip of conforming language to be agreeable for the public—it is a direct, intentional attack on evidence-based science and independent thought which are essential tools for holding governments accountable.
“The move comes at a time when the Trump administration is using its power to force private companies and American citizens to fear practicing free speech. We’ve already seen this with the DOE’s fake science report, and the Trump Administration going out of its way to oust scientists on government scientific advisory boards. These purely partisan political actions are making any form of reasonable, sound science disappear before our eyes. Suppressing scientific information by blacklisting key words to describe the global challenge that is climate change serves no purpose except to line the pockets of Big Oil and this rising authoritarian regime.”
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