The War on Words, Climate, Science, and Equality

At what point does information suppression become censorship or just plain asinine? Asking for a friend.?

According to Axios, the Commerce Department has sent officials at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) a set of keywords to search grants in ways that would cover most climate change-related projects. While it isn’t clear if the administration intends to discontinue funding climate-related grants that are underway, based on President Trump’s executive orders forbidding or calling for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to manually review words such as women, disability, bias, status, trauma, Black, Hispanic communities, socioeconomic, ethnicity, and systemic, things don’t look good.?

Today, the New York Times reported that a program director at NSF who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said a software algorithm has flagged grants that included words and phrases often associated with DEI, including “activism” and “equal opportunity.”?

Last I checked the only people who want to live in a world that forbids the idea or promotion of equal opportunity, are the ones living in fear of their own self-perceived supremacy being jeopardized.?

Words shape reality. When the government censors language around climate change, science, and equality of any kind, it’s not just deleting words—it’s deleting accountability. If federal agencies aren’t allowed to call the crisis what it is, then policies won’t reflect its urgency. Research funding dries up. Disaster preparedness lags. Communities left in the path of hurricanes, floods, and fires are gaslit into believing this is just bad luck, not the direct result of human-made climate chaos. And when you remove the language, you give politicians permission to remove the solutions.

But let’s talk about who this really hurts: low-income communities, people of color, and Indigenous groups who are already bearing the brunt of climate disasters. When the government erases climate language, it’s harming the very people who need protection the most. It’s making it harder for communities to access resources, fight for policy changes, or even sue corporations responsible for environmental destruction—because if climate change doesn’t “officially” exist, then neither do the rights of the people suffering from it.

This isn’t just a war on words—it’s a denial of reality. And when the government starts rewriting reality to suit political agendas, we all lose. Because climate change and the problems that come with ignoring science won’t disappear simply because the words do.?

Over the years, while working in gender and climate justice, I’ve often asked if our communities should at times alter our language depending on the audiences we’re addressing. But the idea of removing it from public websites used to provide empirical evidence and help guide people in need of disaster relief, resources, and aid is unconscionable.?

Below are organizations working to preserve at-risk federal data.?

• The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI): This coalition focuses on defending environmental data, particularly related to climate change, pollution, and public health. EDGI monitors changes to federal environmental policies and data availability and advocates for transparency and accessibility.
• The Internet Archive: As part of its larger mission to preserve digital content, the Internet Archive has worked to preserve government websites, including those containing scientific and climate data, through web crawls and other archiving efforts.
• The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS): This organization advocates for the preservation of science-based policies and regularly documents and reports on the risks posed to scientific integrity, including the removal or alteration of climate-related data from federal agencies.
• The Center for Data Innovation: While more focused on data policy, the Center works to ensure that valuable data, including environmental data, is protected and remains available to inform public policy and decision-making.
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): While primarily focused on civil rights, the ACLU has raised concerns about the protection of DEI data and has been involved in advocating for policies that preserve civil rights and inclusive data practices.

Please spread the word, and feel free to share more organizations in the comments.

Thank you!?