US Department of Agriculture agency told to 'avoid' using the term climate change

The term 'weather extremes' is the suggested replacement

A US farmer harvests crops in Iowa. The US Department of Agriculture office in charge of farmland conservation has been told not to use the term 'climate change' anymore. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Staff at a US government agency have been instructed to "avoid" using the term "climate change" in their work and instead replace it the term "weather extremes".

The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service - tasked with farmland preservation - received an email from Director of Soil Health Bianca Moebius-Clune with the list of terms and acceptable substitutions.

The change in language may appear to be subtle, but has been done in an apparent bid to reflect the Trump administration's view that human action and government regulations to control those actions do not have an impact on the environment.

The 16 February email, obtained by The Guardian, also said that "climate change adaptation" should be replaced with the phrase "resilience to weather extremes”.

The email also instructed the staff to replace "reduce greenhouse gases" with “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency”. The change also appears to favour the Trump administration's repeated claims that policies will be enacted in order to restore the American coal industry, which has been in steady decline since the 1970s.

The move comes just after Donald Trump officially notified the United Nations of the US withdrawal from the global Paris Agreement on climate change, an accord signed by nearly 200 countries in December 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help poorer countries adapt to an already changed planet.

Mr Trump had originally stated his intention to withdrawal in May 2017, when he said the accord puts American workers at an "economic disadvantage". He did not present data to accurately support the claim.

Ms Moebius-Clune's email also mentioned that “we won’t change the modelling, just how we talk about it – there are a lot of benefits to putting carbon back in the sail".

She also said that mentions of business opportunities and economic growth through agriculture in the rural US should be "tolerated if not appreciated by all".

Mr Trump has, at various points, called climate change a Chinese hoax and openly promoted the US oil, gas, and coal sectors. His appointments have reflected that sentiment as well.

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry have both said that they do not believe humans cause climate change and have continuously questioned scores of studies proving the effects of a changing climate and global warming.

He also pick Sam Clovis to be the USDA's top scientist. Mr Clovis does not have a science background, but worked as a business professor for a small college in the politically-important state of Iowa.

The Trump aide has also said climate change is “simply a mechanism for transferring wealth from one group of people to another."