The sky is falling...the sky is falling.

[pappawheely]

Bill would require California's science curriculum to cover climate change
SOME THINK SCIENCE ISN'T DEFINITIVE ENOUGH TO TEACH
By Paul Rogers
Mercury News
Article Launched: 02/15/2008 01:42:53 AM PST


A Silicon Valley lawmaker is gaining momentum with a bill that would require "climate change" to be among the science topics that all California public school students are taught.

The measure, by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, also would mandate that future science textbooks approved for California public schools include climate change.

"You can't have a science curriculum that is relevant and current if it doesn't deal with the science behind climate change," Simitian said. "This is a phenomenon of global importance and our kids ought to understand the science behind that phenomenon."

The state Senate approved the bill, SB 908, Jan. 30 by a 26-13 vote. It heads now to the state Assembly. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken numerous actions to reduce global warming, but he has yet to weigh in on Simitian's bill. Other Republicans in the Capitol, however, are not happy about the proposal.

Some say the science on global warming isn't clear, while others worry the bill would inject environmental propaganda into classrooms.

"I find it disturbing that this mandate to teach this theory is not accompanied by a requirement that the discussion be science-based and include a critical analysis of all sides of the subject," said Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, during the Senate debate.

Only two Republicans voted for the bill, Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-San Luis Obispo, and
Sen. Tom Harman, R-Costa Mesa. Maldonado's district includes Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, parts of San Jose, Scotts Valley, Watsonville and Monterey. Harman represents Orange County. All 13 of the no votes were from Republicans.
One of the opponents, Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Modesto, said he wants guarantees that the views of global warming skeptics will be taught.

"Some wouldn't view them as skeptics. Some would view them as the right side of the issue," said Denham, an Atwater almond farmer who also runs a plastics recycling business.

"We don't have complete factual information yet," Denham said. "From what I have seen the Earth has heated and cooled on its own for centuries. I don't know that there's anything that is a direct cause of that right now, but we can do a better job of cleaning up our planet."

Simitian noted that his bill wouldn't dictate what to teach or in what grades, but rather would require the state Board of Education and state Department of Education to decide both.

Although global warming is mentioned in high school classes about weather, it is currently not required to be covered in all textbooks, said the head of the California Science Teachers Association.

"This is a great idea. I don't think there's any reason to talk about politics," said Christine Bertrand, the group's executive director. "There's no argument that there is climate change. The argument is how much is caused by the activities of mankind."

Bertrand said teachers would have plenty to discuss: rising levels of carbon dioxide, how temperatures are measured globally, and what is known and not known about global warming.

Meanwhile, the 10 hottest years - ranked by global surface temperature - since 1880 all have occurred since 1995, according to the National Climatic Data Center, a federal agency in North Carolina.

In 2005, America's most prestigious scientific body, the National Academy of Sciences, issued a statement with the headline "Climate change is real." It was signed by the national scientific academies of Japan, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, India and Brazil. Citing direct measurements of air and oceans, along with melting glaciers, it noted:

"There is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring. . . . It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities. This warming has already led to changes in the Earth's climate."

[HotRod82]

Yet another GREAT reason to keep your kid out of the government schools. Sacrafice whatever you have too.....put your kids in a private school or homeschool them.

[Ryno]

They honestly think that keeping records over 200 years, then saying the last 10 have been the hottest, on top of that teaching a "theory". Save that for college biology or geography. Considering the Earth has been here for billions of years, and we only have a decent history of the last 2000, they might want a professor to chime in. Notice where the lawmakers are from too....Hippyville.

I got a degree in Geography with a minor in Geology from Sacramento State. I know dirt. With the amount of climate change the Earth has gone through over it's life, this quite literally isn't anything out of norm. Chicken Little just doesn't know any better because he's not very educated on the historical periods of the earth. Think dinosaurs, then think before them. Does anybody with a public office have 1/2 a brain anymore?

[Ol' Curmudgeon]

I just wish they'd mandate literacy, basic math skills, and respect.

[pappawheely]

How do higher taxes fix it and who votes for these bozos? (No offense to bozo)

[Ryno]

I just wish they'd mandate literacy, basic math skills, and respect.

With literacy, math, and grammar, comes respect. Apparently in Palo Alto, they have to worry about global warming. I thought their biggest concern would be their 401k's.

[XTEENA]

This is an interesting topic, Last semester in my college bio class, we had a debate on the subject of whether or not they should teach evolution to the children as well as the all the theories, not just one. Hearing what some people had to say made me sick. And by the way they already teach global warming in schools this is nothing new……all the liberal hippy teachers seem to teach what they want anyways, so what does it matter…I remember in all my science classes that global warming has been brought up one way or another, in most grades repetitively too .What matters is that parents tell there kids to look at all sides of the stories they hear and are being taught so that they can have a better understanding and education than that of their hypercritical teachers in life. This goes for all subjects, not just science.

[pjc]

And we all thought that there was not a mandated, state religion in Kalifornia?

[Infidel Racing Team]

This is an interesting topic, Last semester in my college bio class, we had a debate on the subject of whether or not they should teach evolution to the children as well as the all the theories......

What other theories???:eek: :eek:
Is there anything else besides evolution? lol;)

[Ol' Curmudgeon]

The Stork delivers babies. He wears a hat. It may or may not have a flatbill.

[HotRod82]

The Stork delivers babies. He wears a hat. It may or may not have a flatbill.


Thats hilarious! A tatooed flat billed stork delivering babies in his white fendered ranger.

[Infidel Racing Team]

The Stork delivers babies. He wears a hat. It may or may not have a flatbill.

I am confused! Who gets to screw the Stork????:p :p :D

[pappawheely]

This from the New York Times:

COMMENTARY/Climate panel on the hot seat
By H. Sterling Burnett
March 14, 2008
More than 20 years ago, climate scientists began to raise alarms over the possibility global temperatures were rising due to human activities, such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.

To better understand this potential threat, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 to provide a "comprehensive, objective, scientific, technical and socioeconomic assessment of human-caused climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation."

IPCC reports have predicted average world temperatures will increase dramatically, leading to the spread of tropical diseases, severe drought, the rapid melting of the world's glaciers and ice caps, and rising sea levels. However, several assessments of the IPCC's work have shown the techniques and methods used to derive its climate predictions are fundamentally flawed.

In a 2001 report, the IPCC published an image commonly referred to as the "hockey stick." This graph showed relatively stable temperatures from A.D. 1000 to 1900, with temperatures rising steeply from 1900 to 2000. The IPCC and public figures, such as former Vice President Al Gore, have used the hockey stick to support the conclusion that human energy use over the last 100 years has caused unprecedented rise global warming.

However, several studies cast doubt on the accuracy of the hockey stick, and in 2006 Congress requested an independent analysis of it. A panel of statisticians chaired by Edward J. Wegman, of George Mason University, found significant problems with the methods of statistical analysis used by the researchers and with the IPCC's peer review process. For example, the researchers who created the hockey stick used the wrong time scale to establish the mean temperature to compare with recorded temperatures of the last century. Because the mean temperature was low, the recent temperature rise seemed unusual and dramatic. This error was not discovered in part because statisticians were never consulted.

Furthermore, the community of specialists in ancient climates from which the peer reviewers were drawn was small and many of them had ties to the original authors — 43 paleoclimatologists had previously coauthored papers with the lead researcher who constructed the hockey stick.

These problems led Mr. Wegman's team to conclude that the idea that the planet is experiencing unprecedented global warming "cannot be supported."

The IPCC published its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 predicting global warming will lead to widespread catastrophe if not mitigated, yet failed to provide the most basic requirement for effective climate policy: accurate temperature statistics. A number of weaknesses in the measurements include the fact temperatures aren't recorded from large areas of the Earth's surface and many weather stations once in undeveloped areas are now surrounded by buildings, parking lots and other heat-trapping structures resulting in an urban-heat-island effect.
Even using accurate temperature data, sound forecasting methods are required to predict climate change. Over time, forecasting researchers have compiled 140 principles that can be applied to a broad range of disciplines, including science, sociology, economics and politics.

In a recent NCPA study, Kesten Green and J. Scott Armstrong used these principles to audit the climate forecasts in the Fourth Assessment Report. Messrs. Green and Armstrong found the IPCC clearly violated 60 of the 127 principles relevant in assessing the IPCC predictions. Indeed, it could only be clearly established that the IPCC followed 17 of the more than 127 forecasting principles critical to making sound predictions.

A good example of a principle clearly violated is "Make sure forecasts are independent of politics." Politics shapes the IPCC from beginning to end. Legislators, policymakers and/or diplomatic appointees select (or approve) the scientists — at least the lead scientists — who make up the IPCC. In addition, the summary and the final draft of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report was written in collaboration with political appointees and subject to their approval.

Sadly, Mr. Green and Mr. Armstrong found no evidence the IPCC was even aware of the vast literature on scientific forecasting methods, much less applied the principles.

The IPCC and its defenders often argue that critics who are not climate scientists are unqualified to judge the validity of their work. However, climate predictions rely on methods, data and evidence from other fields of expertise, including statistical analysis and forecasting. Thus, the work of the IPCC is open to analysis and criticism from other disciplines.

The IPCC's policy recommendations are based on flawed statistical analyses and procedures that violate general forecasting principles. Policymakers should take this into account before enacting laws to counter global warming — which economists point out would have severe economic consequences.

H. Sterling Burnett is a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute in Dallas.

[9Iron]

Yet another GREAT reason to keep your kid out of the government schools. Sacrafice whatever you have too.....put your kids in a private school or homeschool them.

ditto,

How come public schools can't teach people to spell
correctly on their job applications and balance their cheque book???

[dan200]

ditto,

How come public schools can't teach people to spell
correctly on their job applications and balance their cheque book???

It is spelled C H E C K B O O K. LOL Gotta love the irony here.:rolleyes:

[Mark Newhan]

Speaking of global warming... A local weatherman named John Coleman, and founder of the Weather Channel, is going to sue Al Gore. He said that he thinks that the only way to get both sides of the issue in the public eye is to take it to court as the media isnt going to tell the side of the ever growing anti global warming views of the climate situation.

[TCPRacing]

I don't know what is so bad about teaching kids a little bit about protecting the environment. My 4 1/2 year old is more conscience of the environment, litter and clean beaches than most cigarett smoking dirt bags that throw cigarettes out the window and dump ashtrays in the street.
I don't see how a little talk of global warming will make the world a worse place than it is.

[pappawheely]

Talking to kids about the global warming theory is fine, but when you tell them it's undisputable and we are killing the polar bears it is B.S. If it's ok to teach the environmentalist religion and the Muslim religion why can't they teach Christianity?

[SpceSpff]

It is spelled C H E C K B O O K. LOL Gotta love the irony here.:rolleyes:

No irony here smart guy. Cheque is another way of saying/spelling "check". That is how it is spelled in the UK. They speak and spell differently than us. How do you spell colour? Ever waited in a que before?

[pappawheely]

No irony here smart guy. Cheque is another way of saying/spelling "check". That is how it is spelled in the UK. They speak and spell differently than us. How do you spell colour? Ever waited in a que before?

They speak old english. We speak new english or broken english. LOL

[miguelitro]

errr...I've taught about climate change in my kindergarten class for years. Its all part of the extinction of the dinosaurs, geology, glaciers and land formation science units.

Now i teach environmental science in an elementary school and do not teach about global warming, I tell people that I dont teach politics:D

[SpceSpff]

They speak old english. We speak new english or broken english. LOL

Oh, you're such an arsehole!!!!! :D

[pappawheely]

Oh, you're such an arsehole!!!!! :D

Kotch you knobber!