The FEMA website began to eliminate 'climate change'

The term “climate change” has begun to disappear from the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Its old “climatic resilience” website has been renamed under the title “Future conditions”. There are still subtle references to climate change there, but it is more a whisper than an urgent warning as before.

The website previously entitled “Climate Resilience” I used to say At the top:

“Climate change is the defining crisis of our time. From extreme heat, drought and forest fires to more severe coastal storms, rising sea level and interior floods, the consequences of climate change surround us. ”

Reading the Current website In comparison, it is like playing one of those games in which you should guess what changed in an image. (Suggestion: There is a typographic error of double space where the words “climate change”) used to be). The paragraph now says:

“Disaster incidents are increasing due to the increase in human vulnerability, exposure and a changing climate. From extreme heat, drought and forest fires to more severe coastal storms, rise to sea level and interior floods, the consequences surround us. ”

There are several climate mentions that have been removed from the page, according to an analysis by the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI). The group of researchers met after Trump was first chosen in 2016 to document what could happen with public environmental data. The group found A drop of almost 40 percent in the use of the term “climate change” on websites for federal environmental agencies during the first Trump administration.

As the agency that coordinates federal responses to all types of disasters, from hurricanes to forest fires, FEMA runs the risk of developing a great blind spot in its work if it ignores the effects of climate change. Climate change made mortal forest fires of Los Angeles more likely In January, in a single terrifying case.

Fema faces more existential threats, of course, under the Trump administration. The president signed a Executive order On January 24, establish a “review advice” to evaluate whether the agency can “address disasters in a trained and impartial way”, claiming “serious concerns of political bias in FEMA.”

Fema did not immediately respond to a request for comments from The edge. The changes were made on January 21, one day after the inauguration of Trump. “We do not know the intention of the team that renamed this website,” Edgi wrote in a Blog today. “Maybe it was flying under the radar of the new administration; Maybe it was to align with the priorities of the new administration. “

Other web pages for FEMA and other government agencies are a mixed bag when it comes to mentioning climate change. The transport department withdrew a web page for the “climate and sustainability” of its “priorities“Website. But other long -standing web resources on the weather are still online.

Edgi and other groups have been fighting to archive web pages and federal data sets. But there are still bigger questions about what happens if these agencies stop paying attention to climate change completely. As the adage progresses, he cannot manage what he does not measure.