I will, occasionally, write about my political point of view, but I try to stay away from inflammatory political rhetoric – after all, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I like to think of myself as a left leaning moderate, though I find the current state of affairs paints me as more of a solid liberal.
This is never more true than when the topic of science comes up. The ability of the GOP to attack, what I believe to be, solid, sound research and empirical evidence frustrates me to no end. Not because they’re good at it, which they are, but because of the potential consequences of their actions.
Global Warming is obviously a hot button topic, and the Right has slowly been adopting their argument from outright denial of the phenomenon to now using specific (i.e. cherry-picked) science to point out that the planet goes through some natural climate change on it’s own. This is actually not a bad thing, in the sense that they’re actually turning to science to support their view, unlike some other theory questioning. (Note – using the word ‘science’ doesn’t make it science)
But what is truly appalling is when the strategy is to deny all science, especially in the education process. Recently some documents from the Heartland Institute, a strong opponent of Global Warming, where leaked on line. One of these documents, titled 2012 Heartland Climate Strategy, has a paragraph about developing a “Global Warming Curriculum for K-12 Classrooms.” Here is what appalls me (emphasis mine):
…effort will focus on providing curriculum that shows that the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain – two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science.
Really? That’s your strategy? To intimidate teachers into not teaching? This is the strategy that is best for the future of America?
For the record, the Heartland Institute is claiming that some of these documents are forged, which may or may not be true, and I certainly have no way to verify the validity of these documents. But remember, for the record, this group worked with the tobacco companies in the 90’s to question the science linking smoking to health risks.
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Political Science
I will, occasionally, write about my political point of view, but I try to stay away from inflammatory political rhetoric – after all, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I like to think of myself as a left leaning moderate, though I find the current state of affairs paints me as more of a solid liberal.
This is never more true than when the topic of science comes up. The ability of the GOP to attack, what I believe to be, solid, sound research and empirical evidence frustrates me to no end. Not because they’re good at it, which they are, but because of the potential consequences of their actions.
Global Warming is obviously a hot button topic, and the Right has slowly been adopting their argument from outright denial of the phenomenon to now using specific (i.e. cherry-picked) science to point out that the planet goes through some natural climate change on it’s own. This is actually not a bad thing, in the sense that they’re actually turning to science to support their view, unlike some other theory questioning. (Note – using the word ‘science’ doesn’t make it science)
But what is truly appalling is when the strategy is to deny all science, especially in the education process. Recently some documents from the Heartland Institute, a strong opponent of Global Warming, where leaked on line. One of these documents, titled 2012 Heartland Climate Strategy, has a paragraph about developing a “Global Warming Curriculum for K-12 Classrooms.” Here is what appalls me (emphasis mine):
Really? That’s your strategy? To intimidate teachers into not teaching? This is the strategy that is best for the future of America?
For the record, the Heartland Institute is claiming that some of these documents are forged, which may or may not be true, and I certainly have no way to verify the validity of these documents. But remember, for the record, this group worked with the tobacco companies in the 90’s to question the science linking smoking to health risks.
Posted by larvamoose on February 20, 2012 in Comments, Green
Tags: Global Warming, Heartland Institute, Science