Why some Wisconsin state employees are barred from mentioning 'climate change'
In George Orwell's classic novel, "1984," one of the plot lines is the continuous development of a fictional language called "." The crafting of the language is an effort by the dictatorial government to ensure there would be no way to verbalize one's dissenting political thoughts because the vocabulary to do so would not exist.
In Wisconsin and Florida, state legislators have employed a politically-motivated gagging of their own; the restriction of state employees who cannot discuss "climate change" even though it may be relevant to their specific agency's responsibilities.听
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands voted 2-1 to for staff members, according to Bloomberg.
The state agency,听established听in the mid-19th century, is responsible for managing the state's trust funds for education financing and administering听5,600 acres of state land.
听Republican board member and state treasurer听 did not approve of , the public land board's executive secretary, using agency time in 2007 and 2008 to research climate change at the 听of then-Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. Wisconsin Democratic provided the sole dissenting vote. 听
"Having been on this board for close to 30 years, I鈥檝e never seen such nonsense,鈥� Mr. La Follette said in a conference call Tuesday, Bloomberg reported. 鈥淲e鈥檝e reached the point now where we鈥檙e going to try to gag employees from talking about issues. In this case, climate change."
This all comes after a report from the that听detailed staff members inside the Fla. Department of Environmental Protection being barred from using the phrases "climate change," "global warming," and "sustainability" in any official communications. The potential consequences of ignoring climate change could be costly for Florida 鈥撎�, according to Climate Central.
Even Wisconsin, located in the central United States, is not immune to consequences stemming from climate change. A University of Wisconsin warned that likely effects include drought, heat waves, severe storms, and degradation of the state鈥檚 plant and animal life.
According to the 60听percent of听Wisconsinites acknowledge climate change is occurring but only 48 percent attribute it to human听activity.听
The board spent nearly twenty minutes discussing "climate change" before voting to ban the phrase, according to Bloomberg. The second vote in support of the ban came from state Attorney General ,听who is handling current Wisconsin Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker's 听(EPA), according to Mother Jones. The lawsuit, filed in conjunction with , challenges the EPA's proposed听 that would result in Wisconsin and other states having to drastically cut carbon emissions from power plants.听
The burning of coal accounts for around听 of Wisconsin's electricity generation, according to the US Energy Information Administration. about their proposed plan that said, in part, retrofits or closures of some coal power facilities would "be a blow to Wisconsin residents and business owners," according to WisconsinGazette.com.
