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Blowback As Canada Muzzles Public Talk of Climate Change
Thousands sign petition condemning ban on weather forecasters discussing global warming
Jun 11, 2014
The public is up in arms after Canadian officials decided to prohibit government weather forecasters from publicly discussing climate change.
As of Wednesday, nearly 14,000 people had signed a petition penned by Canadian resident Janelle Martel that slams "another move on the government's part to keep the public uninformed about climate change."
In late May, government agency Environment Canada confirmed to investigative journalist Mike De Souza that weather forecasters employed by government weather forecasters are banned from discussing global warming.
Environment Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson told De Souza that Environment Canada prohibits meteorologists from discussing climate change, citing the need for them to speak to their "area of expertise."
But the petition, created on the website of company Care2, charges, "These meteorologists undergo years of training to learn about severe weather changes. This, along with the fact that the government has barred other scientists from discussing climate change without political clearance, makes it seem as though the government [wants] to limit and control the information Canadians have access to regarding climate change."
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Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
The public is up in arms after Canadian officials decided to prohibit government weather forecasters from publicly discussing climate change.
As of Wednesday, nearly 14,000 people had signed a petition penned by Canadian resident Janelle Martel that slams "another move on the government's part to keep the public uninformed about climate change."
In late May, government agency Environment Canada confirmed to investigative journalist Mike De Souza that weather forecasters employed by government weather forecasters are banned from discussing global warming.
Environment Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson told De Souza that Environment Canada prohibits meteorologists from discussing climate change, citing the need for them to speak to their "area of expertise."
But the petition, created on the website of company Care2, charges, "These meteorologists undergo years of training to learn about severe weather changes. This, along with the fact that the government has barred other scientists from discussing climate change without political clearance, makes it seem as though the government [wants] to limit and control the information Canadians have access to regarding climate change."
_____________________
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
The public is up in arms after Canadian officials decided to prohibit government weather forecasters from publicly discussing climate change.
As of Wednesday, nearly 14,000 people had signed a petition penned by Canadian resident Janelle Martel that slams "another move on the government's part to keep the public uninformed about climate change."
In late May, government agency Environment Canada confirmed to investigative journalist Mike De Souza that weather forecasters employed by government weather forecasters are banned from discussing global warming.
Environment Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson told De Souza that Environment Canada prohibits meteorologists from discussing climate change, citing the need for them to speak to their "area of expertise."
But the petition, created on the website of company Care2, charges, "These meteorologists undergo years of training to learn about severe weather changes. This, along with the fact that the government has barred other scientists from discussing climate change without political clearance, makes it seem as though the government [wants] to limit and control the information Canadians have access to regarding climate change."
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