Will South Dakota Schools Teach Kids That Climate Change Isn't Real?

by Nikki Gloudeman · 2010-03-03 09:04:00 UTC
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In a stunning move, South Dakota is on the verge of passing legislation to teach climate change denialism in its public schools.

Last week, the state's House of Representatives passed a proposal to establish the "balanced teaching of global warming," which would mean teaching kids that climate change is a "largely speculative" theory rather than fact. The resolution was revised by the Senate, and is currently awaiting final approval by the House before it starts to impact the 119,000 public school children in the state.

The decision reveals an ideological bias on the part of South Dakota, which is predominantly conservative. It also demonstrates a serious lack of knowledge among the lawmakers establishing public school curricula: The original House amendment included language about how astrology (horoscopes) and thermology (infrared body scanning) prove global warming isn't real. Contrast that with reputable organizations like NASA, which has developed a global climate change education project for K-12 students on the grounds that "responding to our changing planet (is) one of the greatest and most important intellectual challenges facing humanity."

The proposal is particularly disheartening because kids will be most affected by the impacts of climate change, and because they represent the best avenue for environmental progress. In fact, children—despite the fact that they're increasingly expecting less from their planet—are more concerned about the future of the environment than their elders. But their fight for the planet will be greatly jeopardized if they are taught that climate change is not the very real and serious threat that it is.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Nikki Gloudeman is a senior fellow at Mother Jones magazine where she writes about the environment and other topics.
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