Don't Even Mention Global Warming to Kids

Marcia NealColorado State School Board Member Marcia Neal (R-Grand Junction) supports eliminating teaching of global warming in schools.A new group called "Balanced Education for Everyone"(BEE) is rolling out a national effort to stop the teaching of global warming in schools, calling it "unnecessary." The group says global warming is "junk science" and that teaching it scares schoolchildren unnecessarily. BEE initiated its countrywide effort to eradicate climate change instruction from classrooms in Mesa County, Colorado, where Rose Pugliese, a failed school board candidate for the area's last election, presented the District 51 School Board with a petition containing about 600 signatures asking that science teachers stop giving lessons on global warming. At the meeting, an ecologist with a Ph.D. tried to explain to the school board that the subject of climate change "is not just some liberal theory," and a Mesa State College professor drew snickers from the audience when she told the Board that global warming is as certain a scientific theory as gravity and evolution. Balanced Education for Everyone is a project of the conservative group Independent Women's Forum, which promotes a documentary called "Not Evil Just Wrong" as the basis for classroom lesson plans, and for what they consider "scientifically accurate" information about global warming. The documentary was created to counteract Al Gore's Oscar-winning global warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." Balanced Education for Everyone has gained the support of Colorado State School Board member Marcia Neal, a Republican from Grand Junction.

Comments

Personally, giving a lession about Global Warming to kids would be very necessary today. Because it could build better understanding of how we damage and consume our nature environment and scarce energy resource, also why we need to protect and conserve the environment to avoid such natural pollutions and disasters.

Should we replace honest and scary with dishonest and funny in our schools? I have a feeling that Colorado State School Board Member Marcia Neal would feel different about scary if we were talking about the 9/11 disaster. Is 9/11 OK to discuss in schools because the bad guys aren't us?? It isn't about "scary to children" as much as it is scary to Colorado oil producers. '

I bet Ms. Neal wants to put global warming into the debate for political correctness. Sorry Ms Neal but scientific facts are just that.

I live in Grand Junction, and this is very typical of the kind of thinking that goes on in this area. Grand Junction, at just over 50,000 people, is extreme western Colorado and is the largest city between Denver and Salt Lake City, so it is geographically isolated yet large enough for right wing ideas to take root and prosper. The entire western half of the state, save for a few rich enclaves such as Aspen, is so right wing you'd think you're in the south. Not surprisingly, the Tea Party is very, very big around here.

Oh, and the Ten Commandments are inscribed on block of granite in front of Grand Junction City Hall on city property. Surprised?

The odd thing is, you talk to some of the local farmers (each one more ultra conservative than the last) and they'll matter of factly talk about how things are hotter and drier around here than when they they were a kid. But use the words "climate change" and you've got a problem on your hands.

I can't wait to get out of this place.

Thai, you hit the nail on the head with your comment on 3rd June 3 @ 22:49. Hitler and his 3rd Reich perfected the art of propaganda and evangelists (particularly Al Gore) have learned a lot from it and are doing their utmost to spread the UN’s climate change propaganda globally. I have published an article (Note 1) on this at my blog “Global Political Shenanigans" if you are interested. Open and reasoned debate is welcome but invective will be moderated (althopugh it is difficult to moderate my own comments).

Searchbuster, you are absolutely correct when saying on 1st June 1 @ 21.08 QUOTE: .. climate awareness is very important .. UNQUOTE but there is a difference between making children (and adults) aware and brainwashing them with UN-inspired propaganda.

1) see http://globalpoliticalshenanigans.blogspot.com/2010/05/propaganda-evangelism.html

Best regards, Pete Ridley

Global warming is sadly a part of our lives and the lives of generations to come. Kids should learn about it so that way our society future generations can more effectively deal with it.

Sorry that I posted my comment twice – I was too impatient.

“Stay Informed”, why “sadly”? Climate change has been a part of life since before humans walked the globe and will continue long after we have all passed into oblivion. Our children need to be taught this is fact and that humans (and the rest of the globe’s fauna and flora) have to continue adapting to such change. What they should not be taught is the kind of propaganda seen in Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient truth” and in the pitiful (and scary) adverts (Note 1) put out by politicians such as those by the UK’s thankfully departed Labour Government in the lead up to the UN’s COP15 fiasco in Copenhagen. This political nonsense was also just before the scandals of Climategate and other IPCC-gates (27 in my list so far) broke.

“Children should be informed” about both global warming and global cooling. Both have been experience by humans, with natural swings between bitterly cold ice-ages and pleasantly warm inter-glacial periods. We are fortunate that we have enjoyed a relatively stable period for several thousand years, give or take a degree or so, but there are signs that we could be heading into another ice age. Let’s hope it’s a false alarm as it was in the 1970s.

One thing that they should not have rammed down their throats is the political propaganda that humans are causing catastrophic global climate change through using fossil fuels. There is plenty evidence to show that our puny impact upon global temperatures might amount to about one centigrade degree of warming, a welcome change for most of us (which may help to offset any natural cooling heading our way). I do agree that children should be taught about human impact upon the environment, both good and bad. Did you hear about the UK’s ridiculous waste of £300,000 of taxpayers hard-earned money to pay for 35 sculptures to be placed in the Yorkshire Wolds. That is an area of extreme natural beauty natural that needs no gilding by humans. Of course humans have made some wonderful changes to the environment that makes such areas readily accessible by road, rail, air and even on foot. There are many other beneficial changes, including the conversion of woodland and forest into the beautiful farmland that many of us love to wander through on public footpaths. Let’s not forget the beautiful gardens that humans have created from wasteland. Of course there are plenty of examples of our damage to the environment but we are getting better at sorting those out.

NOTES:
1) see http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100013199/governments-6-million-bedtime-story-climate-change-ad-biggest-waste-of-taxpayers-money/

Best regard, Pete Ridley

This is total lack of accountability at the top of our society. It is about time we all accepted that there are consequences. All the time BP can dump millions of gallons of crude in the Gulf and get away with it - this will not change.

Yes, i agree. The kids need to be informed as soon as possible. By getting enough knowledge about global warming, they will know what to do to prevent it.

It is ridicilous if people says to it is to early for kids to know.. are you insane? if global warming keeps going on, there will be no future for this kids

well i'll put it simple, face the truth man, the earth goin to sink soon or later, now is our job to inform em, to star fight the global warming for the sake of human kind, hurt but full of truth. i will give a analogue like this, a terminal stadium cancer patient would be told about his sickness and how long he's predicited goin to last, it simply their right to know. well again, it just my opinion, i always open for a reply, or disagree comment, cheers!

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