On Monday, the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit group that denounces intelligent design and supports an evolution-only curriculum in the classroom, will expand its mission. The organization of scientists, anthropologists and others is turning its attention to climate change, and it will mount an aggressive effort to teach the nation’s schoolchildren that climate change is real and is being driven by human activity.
“For 20 years, we’ve helped teachers cope with what we can only describe as societal or political problems in teaching evolution. They’re running into the same opposition in teaching climate change,” NCSE Executive Director Eugenie Scott said. “We worry, because of our experience with evolution, that basic science is going to be compromised as a result of this political and ideological opposition. Good science needs to be taught.”
– Ben Wolfgqng, “Scientists want climate change in young minds: Teachings to point to human causes” (The Washington Times, January 16, 2012 )
But what is the Darwin lobby bringing to the conflict that the climate change people need? One critic points out,
.. such efforts essentially amount to “the politicization of curriculum.”
Well yes, because the climate change message isn’t that climate change is happening. The climate change message is that it is happening because of current human activities.
That’s what’s behind the drive for new laws, rules, court decisions, shutdowns, crackdowns, halts to job creation, policing, taxes, etc. Which actually isn’t far from the Darwin lobby’s ideological home, and they’ll meet a lot of friends and colleagues there.
What’s different, of course, is that far more people care about the rules imposed by the climate change lobby, especially when they kill jobs and towns, as with Keystone Excel or create only fake jobs as with Solyndra.
We’ll see how that turns out for the Darwin lobby.
Note: This one first turned up on the radar last fall.
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