Rampell: Dangerously in denial on climate change

The Salt Lake City Tribune ^ | January 20, 2015 | Catherine Rampell, The Washington Post

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Last year, government scientists tell us, was the hottest year on record.

This news is terribly — what's the word? — inconvenient.

No, not for polar bears or drought victims or coastal dwellers. It's inconvenient for politicians across the country who, despite whatever data or overwhelming scientific consensus might be proffered, insist on denying global warming.

In recent weeks, West Virginia has snatched national headlines for its attempts to doctor school science standards to discredit climate change. The sixth-grade science curriculum, for example, was amended so that, rather than having students "clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century," they would examine causes behind the rise "and fall" in global temperatures.

After a national outcry from educators, West Virginia backed down. But the science curriculum standards — which come from recommendations developed and adopted by a partnership of states — have already been rejected by Wyoming. South Carolina blocked the standards before they were even finalized, and other states are gearing up for similar battles. Climate change has slipped into the same contentious curricular role that evolution once occupied, and some sort of Scopes penguin trial or a debate over "intelligent warming" seems inevitable....

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It’s time to get the government out of science, even basic science.