Founded in 1987 and based in Oakland, California the Pacific Institute is an independent, nonpartisan think-tank studying issues at the intersection of development, environment, and security.Two brief entries following last weeks' revelation that the Federal Way (Washington) School Board placed a moratorium on the showing of "An Inconvenient Truth" in its classrooms.
On Friday, the Seattle Post Intelligencer editorial board took the school board to task. In "Climate Change: Teach the science" they write,
Any classroom teacher worth his salt is going to let students know about debates on the science of global warming. But equating the consensus on mankind's role in causing the problem (which even the Bush White House now acknowledges, for crying out loud) with the voices of doubt is a flat misrepresentation of prevailing views. Source
Also worth checking out are the 100+ comments they received.
Banned or not, however, we shouldn't underestimate students' abilities to see through political smoke.
Like sex-ed, if kids don't get their science at school, they'll get it somewhere.
UPDATE:
For a germane discussion (and information on how to get a free classroom copy of "An Inconvient Truth") check out "Calling All Science Teachers" over at RealClimate.
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