Coast Guard Academy removes 'climate change' references from curriculum after Trump order

WASHINGTON — Every U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadet — regardless of major — tackles a rigorous curriculum during their four-year enrollment that includes math, nautical science and engineering.

The academy's STEM-based coursework is designed to prepare future officers to lead Coast Guardsmen in a variety of maritime missions such as search and rescue, law enforcement and protecting the environment and marine resources.

But "climate change" references and terminology are now off-limits at the 149-year-old U.S. service academy in order to comply with directives from the Trump administration.

In January, the president issued Executive Order 14148 rescinding several existing executive orders related to climate change.

"The previous administration has embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical practices within every agency and office of the Federal Government... Climate extremism has exploded inflation and overburdened businesses with regulation," Trump said on the official White House site.

And last month, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a memo instructing agency officials to "eliminate all climate change activities and the use of climate change terminology in DHS policies and programs to the maximum extent permitted by the law," according to Bloomberg.

While most other U.S. service academies — including West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy — fall under the direction of the Defense Department, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy is under Homeland Security jurisdiction.

The recent decision to remove "climate change" references at the Coast Guard Academy is prompting alarm from some alumni and others in the Coast Guard community.

In response, academy Provost Amy Donahue cited both Trump's executive order and Noem's recent Homeland Security directive regarding climate change curriculum modifications at the academy.

"This is a lawful directive with which we are obligated to comply, and we are doing so," wrote Donahue in a message to the USCGA Alumni Association.

"At the same time, we are a higher education institution accredited to offer a Bachelor of Science degree according to standards prescribed by various commissions. Further, in order to be fully mission capable, the Coast Guard needs officers who understand and are prepared to function effectively in the operating environment of a maritime military service.

"Since Secretary Noem published her memorandum, our faculty have worked diligently and with great care and professionalism to satisfy all of these requirements," she wrote.

Donahue added that she directed academy faculty to review the school's academic curriculum "to identify and revise" any instances where course content did not align with the Trump administration's orders to ensure "full alignment."

"My guidance to them was that we will not use 'climate change' or related terminology about contemporary human-induced rise in global temperatures in our class assignments and materials.

"Instead, we focus on particular scientific phenomena and the impacts that are pertinent to Service needs and missions.

"As a result, we have revised certain aspects of some courses that had been addressing 'climate change,'" she said.

The provost emphasized that the academy is not abandoning science education.

"As we prepare cadets to graduate and commission, we continue to teach them about weather patterns, atmospheric phenomena, paleoclimatology, meteorology, oceanography, geospatial sciences, the conditions of sea ice, ocean conditions, the characteristics of coastal environments, energy generation methods, marine ecology and fisheries, the hazards like storms and flooding, and other similar topics, not to mention the fundamentals of physics, chemistry, and civil engineering," she said.

Retired admiral: 'We're going to be a much less capable Coast Guard'

While Donahue argues it is possible to comply with recent federal directives regarding "climate change" — while continuing to "teach good science," others within the Coast Guard community are not convinced.

In an interview with Inside Climate News, retired Adm. Paul Zukunft — who served as commandant of the Coast Guard from 2014 to 2018 — said that cadets need to be educated about climate change in order to effectively undertake missions in harsh maritime environments and to participate in decision-making when confronting disasters.

Unlike other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, the Coast Guard does not have ROTC programs in colleges across the country. So a disproportionate number of its officers graduated from their respective academy, compared to other branches.

"If we're not smart about the environment that we operate in, we're going to be a much less capable Coast Guard," Zukunft told Inside Climate News.

Stark departures from Coast Guard's prior 'climate change' approach

The Coast Guard Academy's updated actions regarding "climate change" is a departure from recent approaches inside a U.S. military branch with over 40,000 members on active duty.

In 2023, the "United States Coast Guard Climate Framework" included this statement about "climate change" from Adm. Linda Fagan, who was serving as the branch's commandant:

"These impacts of climate change will influence every Coast Guard mission. To uphold our tradition of service to the nation, the Coast Guard must apply strategic foresight to prepare for the challenges ahead."

Fagan — who was the first woman to lead any U.S. military service — was relieved of her command on Trump's first full day in office.

At the time, a Department of Homeland Security official said in a Military.com interview that Fagan was terminated for reasons that included concerns over border security, acquisitions, recruiting and poor leadership and management.

The unnamed official also criticized her for "excessive focus on diversity" policies.

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