A wave of state bills could threaten science and climate education

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

The Energy 202: A wave of state bills could threaten science and climate education

By Paulina Firozi
March 11 at 7:50 AM

State lawmakers from Connecticut to Florida are proposing measures that some groups say could threaten how science and climate change are taught in the classroom. More than a dozen such bills have popped up this year, including from state lawmakers pushing back against broad scientific consensus that people are warming the planet, according to the National Center for Science Education.

The measures have emerged as many young people around the nation and world intend to skip school this week to demand government action on climate change, and as there is renewed emphasis in Washington on a Green New Deal to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, despite skepticism President Trump and his appointees have expressed about the state and causes of global warming.

Glenn Branch, the deputy director at NCSE, which tracks the measures, told me the organization has seen more activity on this front in 2019 than it usually tracks in an entire year -- Branch usually expects to see a half dozen to a dozen of bills annually aimed at changing how science is taught in elementary and secondary school classrooms. While many of the measures have already failed, they’re an example of how the climate debate is trickling down to states, where there’s entrenchment from some conservatives as the issue rises in importance in national politics.

Most of these measures were introduced by state Republicans and are aimed at affecting public education in a range of ways, from removing language about climate science from statewide standards to repealing those state standards for science instruction or by broadly requiring "balance" in the teaching of “controversial issues.”

And there's no evidence they will necessarily pass, though the wave of introductions is notable.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2019/03/11/the-energy-202-a-wave-of-state-bills-could-threaten-science-and-climate-education/5c8569bc1b326b2d177d603f/

[procon]

1. "Balance"? What junk do they teach that is the opposite of real science? nt

[exboyfil]

2. Combine this with the McConnell-Trump judges

Dark times are ahead. No Democrat ran against Skyler Wheeler (the sponsor of one of these bills) in Iowa. He is in the heart of Steve King's district.