Warming: Scientific Fact
Charleston Gazette
6 April 2012
Abnormally, a wave of deadly tornadoes struck the Midwest at the
end of February, before the usual start of twister season. This
sort of freakish, violent weather fits the pattern expected to
rise from global warming. The cost to America, in lives and
property, is severe.
Meanwhile, Republicans in four different state legislatures -- New
Hampshire, Missouri, Indiana and Oklahoma -- again are pushing
bills to undercut the teaching of evolution. But this time,
there's a twist: The proposals also would require public school
science classes to teach that global warming is doubtful,
unproven.
What's next? No science of any sort allowed in public schools?
For years, the chief opponent of global warming evidence has been
the conservative-libertarian Heartland Institute in Chicago, which
endlessly issues "scientific" papers questioning any global
increase in temperatures, or doubting that such increase is caused
by human air pollution.
Recently, internal Heartland documents were leaked to news media,
and they show a new strategy. The think-tank supposedly has
prepared a $100,000 curriculum for public school science classes,
designed to teach children that grave suspicions mar global
warming evidence -- even though thousands of climate scientists
say the opposite.
The courses were prepared by Dr. David Wojick. Heartland says he
"has conducted extensive research on environmental and science
education for the Department of Energy." But that's false. Wojick
merely was a part-time computer contractor who helped organize DOE
databases. The federal agency issued a statement saying:
"David Wojick ... has never advised or conducted research for the
department on climate change or any other scientific topic, and
the office he works for is not a research organization."
Shawn Lawrence Otto, author of Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault
on Science in America, wrote that Heartland's new curriculum "is
the same strategy often used by political opponents of teaching
evolution in science classes. The secret documents show the
curriculum is intended to create a similar false sense of
scientific controversy," when none actually exists. All reputable
biologists agree that evolution is a bedrock fact of biology --
just as all reputable climatologists agree that global warming is
real.
The internal documents also allege that the Koch brothers,
conservative oil billionaires, gave Heartland $200,000. New
Jersey's Star-Ledger pointed out that the Kochs "backed
climate-denier Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign," and their
donation shows that Heartland "is a shill for oil companies that
have a huge profit motive in dirty fossil fuels." The paper
continued:
"Climate change deniers use a strategy identical to those who want
creationism taught alongside evolution in science classes: Ignore
the science and teach the debate, as if the simple fact of
disagreeing with scientific fact is educationally significant ...
. It's deliberate ignorance. That's the same pseudoscience that
leads parents to opt out of vaccinations for their children or
oppose fluoride in drinking water. The stakes in climate change
are much higher -- planetary, in fact."
Heartland claims that one of the leaked documents is a forgery.
But it hasn't denied using Dr. Wojick to design school courses
claiming that many scientists doubt climate change. The Los
Angeles Times said the only such scientists are
"fossil-fuel-industry-funded 'experts' who tend to have little
background in climatology and who publish non-peer-reviewed papers
in junk magazines."
We hope West Virginia's public schools shun these underhanded
attempts to cast doubt on both evolution and warming.