Florida state employees aren't allowed to discuss why their state is being swallowed by the Atlantic

THE OCEANS ARE slowly overtaking Florida. Ancient reefs of mollusk and coral off the present-day coasts are dying. Annual extremes in hot and cold, wet and dry, are becoming more pronounced.

Women and men of science have investigated, and a great majority agree upon a culprit. In the outside world, this culprit has a name, but within the borders of Florida, it does not.

According to a Miami Herald investigation, the state Department of Environmental Protection has since 2010 had an unwritten policy prohibiting the use of some well-understood phrases for the meteorological phenomena slowly drowning America’s weirdest-shaped state. It’s … that thing where burning too much fossil fuel puts certain molecules into a certain atmosphere, disrupting a certain planetary ecosystem. You know what we’re talking about. We know you know. They know we know you know.

But are we allowed to talk about … you know? No. Not in Florida. It must not be spoken of. Ever.

Wikipedia wrote:Current sea level rise is about 3 mm/year worldwide. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), "this is a significantly larger rate than the sea-level rise averaged over the last several thousand years", and the rate may be increasing.

risingsun wrote:Good lord!   Not allowed to talk about it, why, who said, reason etc!!!!!!!!!

This unwritten policy went into effect after Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011 and appointed Herschel Vinyard Jr. as the DEP’s director, according to former DEP employees. Gov. Scott, who won a second term in November, has repeatedly said he is not convinced that climate change is caused by human activity, despite scientific evidence to the contrary.

The report sent shockwaves through Florida’s environmental community, disappointed some fellow Republicans in South Florida and led climate scientists to bemoan the “Orwellian” political environment in the state, a low-lying peninsula that’s acutely threatened by rising seas.

risingsun wrote:The sea doesn't have to rise very much to effect Florida does it!