Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., plans to blast plans from the Fish and Wildlife Service to offer federal employees training in “ecogrief” to cope with the trauma of climate change.
According to the Washington Times, the federal agency’s southwest region is planning to give staffers “a chance to define what they mean by ecological grief, space to examine their emotional reactions and tools to grapple with those feelings.”
“This 4-hour workshop seeks to normalize the wide range of emotional responses that conservationists experience while empowering participants to act while taking care of themselves,” read a notice reviewed by the Washington Times. “The workshop is intended for those experiencing ecological grief and for those who wish to support them.”
In prepared remarks shared exclusively with The Federalist, Hageman condemns the workshops as a malicious waste of taxpayer dollars.
“This would be comical if it was a private company wasting its own money, but it’s not — it is our federal government — and that makes it our money that is being misappropriated and used to further a political agenda,” Hageman plans to say. That agenda, charges Hageman, is meant to “increase the cost of putting food on your table, a roof over your head, and gas in your car.”
“Ecogrief is admittedly a smaller budget item than many other woke programs,” the speech reads. “That, however, is no reason to ignore what it portends, or the real underlying agenda being pushed by this federal agency.”
In an interview with The Federalist, Hageman said she has not spoken to any of her Democrat colleagues about the seminars but emphasized other Republicans “are pretty offended.”
“When I first heard of the ‘ecogrief’ class sponsored by FWS, I thought this was a joke,” Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., told the Washington Times. “This is taxpayer waste, plain and simple, and our House Republican majority will be holding this administration accountable.”
Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, whose Arizona district resides within the agency’s southwest region where the seminar is to take place, told the Washington Times the workshops are “nonsensical and a complete and total waste of resources.”
“If you really want to get anxious, think about a possible coming ice age,” Gosar said. “A warm earth creates prosperity, abundant food and growth. A colder earth results in death and starvation. The last mini-ice age (1100-1800) wreaked havoc in the Northern Hemisphere.”
Data from the Lancet Medical Journal shows cold temperatures kill nine times more people than extreme heat does.
Hageman pledged in her interview with The Federalist that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s ecogrief seminars would be “specifically addressed” whether by appropriations or some other legislative process. The House Committee on Natural Resources, she added, “is working on an oversight request.”
Hageman was seated on the committee after her predecessor, Liz Cheney, left the panel to lead the Democrats’ Jan. 6 probe in the lower chamber.
Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan's email newsletter here.