Opinion

W.Va. school board flunks science

An editorial from The Dominion Post 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — We ’re not experts on climate science.

But we’re smart enough to heed those who are.

In May, the Institute of Physics published the results of a comprehensive study of 4,000 peer-reviewed, scientific article summaries and reported 97 percent of scientists believe that recent global warming is human-caused.

That belief is shared by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, that with more than 121,000 members, is the world’s largest general science group; the American Chemical Society, the American Medical Association, NASA and many others.

They refer to it as anthropogenic contributions. That’s science talk for factors caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels.

In December, the state Board of Education (BOE) voted to alter reference to human-driven climate change in the newest state science standards.

Those changes imply there’s still a debate in the scientific community about whether human activity is raising the Earth’s temperature.

There is no such debate. Perhaps there are three scientists among every 100 who question this conclusion. But there are probably still three scientists who believe smoking cigarettes is good for you.

Scientists challenge conventional thinking and acquire knowledge through research. They dedicate their lives to correcting or integrating prior knowledge, as well.

For state BOE members to suggest they are smarter or wiser than the scientific community that designed these curriculum standards for the study of climate change is a farce.

Not to mention, a waste of time, a waste of taxpayers’ money and an attempted waste of our students’ minds.

What this effort is is an attempt to change sciencestandards based on state politics rather than on science.

Let’s be clear here: Politics has no place in determining what our students should or need to learn. Period.

We realize coal production and environmental regulations figure heavily in the minds of many naysayers about climate change.

But that doesn’t change the overwhelming consensus that fossil fuel emissions contribute to global warming and climate change. Climate science is not based on mere predictions. Indeed, it is decades of results.

To suggest students debate what climate scientists have concluded is preposterous. Why not have them debate whether the Earth is flat? Or the evolution of our species?

Or why not simply propose we teach them lies?

We urge the state BOE to drop its changes to the curriculum on the study of climate change.

There is a debate about how to solve climate change. But to deny human activity is accelerating climate change or pretend it doesn’t exist reveals that our state’s school board members are rank amateurs.

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