The Guardian is reporting that they have obtained email correspondence between the staff of Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)—the USDA branch overseeing conservation of farm land.
A missive from Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health, lists terms that should be avoided by staff and those that should replace them. “Climate change” is in the “avoid” category, to be replaced by “weather extremes”. Instead of “climate change adaption”, staff are asked to use “resilience to weather extremes”.
The primary cause of human-driven climate change is also targeted, with the term “reduce greenhouse gases” blacklisted in favor of “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency”. Meanwhile, “sequester carbon” is ruled out and replaced by “build soil organic matter”.
And just to fully understand what is going on in our government agencies behind the scenes, where men and women work to try to make things better for American citizens:
Other emails show the often agonized discussions between staff unsure of what is forbidden. On 16 February, a staffer named Tim Hafner write to Bramblett: “I would like to know correct terms I should use instead of climate changes and anything to do with carbon ... I want to ensure to incorporate correct terminology that the agency has approved to use.”
On 5 April, Suzanne Baker, a New York-based NRCS employee, emailed a query as to whether staff are “allowed to publish work from outside the USDA that use ‘climate change’”. A colleague advises that the issue be determined in a phone call.
While not surprising given the Trump and Republican Party’s denial of climate-change-that’s-turned-into-denial-of-man-made-climate-change, it’s disheartening to see the wrench this administration has been able to throw into the modest progress on scientifically sound initiatives. And while the EPA struggles with the complete swampification of their advisory board and the havoc that will bring to environmental protections, the USDA being taught to pretend that climate change isn’t the exact issue at work here is not going to change the needs of farmers.
A high-profile Obama-era initiative specifically focused on the food system came in the form of U.S. Department of Agriculture research centers known as "climate hubs." The hubs are meant to better coordinate USDA research and outreach. After their creation in 2014, researchers set about translating scientific jargon into real-world advice for farmers, ranchers and foresters on how best to survive more erratic weather and a hotter climate.
[...]
"Farmers care about this a lot," says Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, a left-leaning farmer advocacy group. He was a North Dakota farmer for the majority of his life.
"What farmers really want is good, solid scientific information about how they can better operate their farms and ranches," Johnson says.
Unfortunately, the Republican Party along with Trump at the top are not interested in producing results so much as propaganda for when they are unable to produce results.