In this report, we build on our existing research to present a broad analysis of how the Trump administration has altered the use of terms related to climate change on federal environmental websites. Over the thousands of websites we monitor, use of the terms “climate change,” “clean energy,” and “adaptation” dropped by 26% between 2016 and 2018, while catch-all terms that are employed to undermine clear analysis – such as “energy independence,” “resilience,” and “sustainability” – increased by 26%. Over half of all pages where “climate change” was completely removed (73 / 136) were U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pages. These removals are magnified by the fact that the EPA homepage was the 1,750th most visited website in the U.S. in early 2019, giving it more reach than even whitehouse.gov.
New_Digital_Landscape_EDGI_July_2019Author(s): Eric Nost, Gretchen Gehrke, Aaron Lemelin, Steven Braun, Marcy Beck, Rob Brackett, Dan Allan, Sara Wylie, Kelsey Breseman, Stephanie Knutson, Anastasia Aizman, Maya Anjur-Dietrich, Sara Johns, Katherine Kulik, Kevin Nguyen, Toly Rinberg, Jacob Wylie, EDGI
Publication Date: July 22, 2019
Preferred Citation: "The New Digital Landscape: How the Trump Administration Has Undermined Federal Web Infrastructures for Climate Information," (Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, July 22, 2019)