Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday made little effort to hide his unease over a ban of the terms "climate change" or "global warming" at Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, The Associated Press reported.

The top diplomat, who has long been considered a champion of combating climate change, spoke at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank; his statements amounted to a "non-so-subtle dig" at Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

"Now, folks, we literally do not have the time to waste debating whether we can say 'climate change,'" Kerry said.

"Because no matter how much people want to bury their heads in the sand, it will not alter the fact that 97 percent of peer-reviewed climate studies confirm that climate change is happening and that human activity is largely responsible."

Former employees, consultants and volunteers of the Sunshine State's environmental agency had told the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting that they were banned from using terms such as "climate change," "global warming" and "sustainability" in official communications, the Miami Herald reported on Monday.

The unwritten policy went "beyond semantics" in a state where "sea-level rise alone threatens 30 percent of ... beaches over the next 85 years," the investigative journalists pointed out.

The rules went apparently into effect when Scott assumed Florida's governorship in 2011. The Republican appointed Herschel Vinyard, a former Jacksonville shipbuilding executive, to head the Department of Environmental Protection; Vinyard eventually resigned from his post last November, ending what the Miami Herald called a "four-year run steeped in controversy."

Kerry is one of many officials of the Obama administration who have minced no words in criticizing politicians skeptical of climate science, and President Barack Obama himself mocked Congressional deniers last year.

"In most communities and workplaces, they may not know how big a problem it is, they may not know exactly how it works, they may doubt they can do something about it. Generally, they don't just say, 'No, I don't believe anything scientists say,'" the president said at a speech before the League of Conservation Voters. "Except where? Congress."

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