This never happens -- and why should it?<\/p>\n
The United States educational system is in trouble.\u00a0 When I read the story linked below, I thought of an old 1950’s\u00a0 car bumping down a rocky hill and crashing into a boulder-strewn riverbed.\u00a0 That’s\u00a0 public school science policy in the U.S.\u00a0 We are not just not making progress on climate change legislation and public awareness here in the U.S., we are going backwards fast.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s now been reported that the legislatures of 15 states have passed resolutions pushed together by the fossil fuel companies to deny climate change.\u00a0 Lobbying is not limited to the U.S. Congress. These companies are pouring cash into local campaigns and using their new-found money power because of the recent Citizens\u00a0 United\u00a0 Supreme Court decision to buy or threaten state and municipal elected officials as well as federal officials.\u00a0 (Info from the Thom Hartmann show.)<\/p>\n
One of these states is South Dakota. \u00a0 They have joined the states that want to pass laws to make it legal and even desirable to teach children propaganda against science, or a variation of religion,\u00a0 rather than teaching real science in schools. \u00a0 Of course, parents can already teach their children all the propaganda or lies or whatever they want at home on their own time, but the disturbing trend is for laws to be passed to make that alternate world-view mandatory in public schools, which are funded by taxpayers.\u00a0 Regular people will now be paying for anti-science, political propaganda in these states.<\/p>\n
It’s the conservative states pushing this, of course.\u00a0 Their arguments against global warming are now being tied to abortion and religion for purely political reasons.\u00a0 No, the Waxman-Markey bill is not great legislation, but it won’t lead to a rise in abortions or eugenics or end hetero marriage, as many people seem to think.\u00a0 Here’s what happened, according to the New York Times:<\/p>\n
In South Dakota, a resolution calling for the \u201cbalanced teaching of global warming in public schools\u201d passed the Legislature this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarbon dioxide is not a pollutant,\u201d the resolution said, \u201cbut rather a highly beneficial ingredient for all plant life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
No, you did you not read that wrong. The pursuit of a contrary opinion, no matter what the topic, has spread to state law makers.\u00a0 This boils down to the state legislature of South Dakota denying that science is more important than the unfounded feeling — hope, really\u00a0 — that All is Well-.\u00a0 It’s even worse than that; they outright deny established science in the resolution.\u00a0 In part, the resolution reads:<\/p>\n
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION,\u00a0Calling for balanced teaching of global warming in the public schools of South Dakota.<\/p>\n
WHEREAS,\u00a0the earth has been cooling for the last eight years despite small increases in anthropogenic carbon dioxide; and
\nWHEREAS,\u00a0there is no evidence of atmospheric warming in the troposphere where the majority of warming would be taking place; and
\nWHEREAS,\u00a0historical climatological data shows without question the earth has gone through trends where the climate was much warmer than in our [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This never happens -- and why should it? The United States educational system is in trouble.\u00a0 When I read the story linked below, I thought of an old 1950’s\u00a0 car bumping down a rocky hill and crashing into a boulder-strewn … Continue reading