Mere days after stepping into a major political mess, Gov. Ritter announced an ambitious plan to tackle the problem of global warming. Perhaps he aspires to win the Nobel Prize. More studied individuals than myself can break down the economic costs of his proposals, and I look forward to seeing those analyses.
For now, though, I wanted to focus on one aspect of Ritter’s 33-page “Climate Change Action Plan”:
Climate curricula. The state will work through the Governor’s P-20 Education Council and others to make sustainability curricula become standard fare in K-12 classrooms throughout the state. Today’s students will be living in a warmer climate resulting from the activities of previous generations. They need to understand the science of climate change, what its impacts will be on their lives, and how to critically evaluate the steps needed to reach our 2020 and 2050 emission reduction goals. Students will also need academic and technical skills to be ready for jobs in the New Energy Economy.
Unlikely to be included in the curriculum for all Colorado public school students are the well-accredited scientists featured on this 8-minute YouTube video, as John Stossel says “Give me a break.” Or the information included in “Snowjob”. Can we expect the curriculum to be balanced by the Heartland Institute’s Global Warming education site as a resource – including their 10-question quiz? Maybe the problem is that Ritter himself has yet to take the quiz.
Al Gore hath spoken: The Global Warming Debate is over…despite an abundance of evidence to the contrary. But Ritter has swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. And he thinks every public school student in Colorado should be force-fed it, too. “Local control” is a convenient mantra for the state’s liberal elites to squelch choice and competition or standards for accountability. But foisting statewide sex education standards or fearmongering climate propaganda on our kids is no problem.
Apparently, the agenda of union bag man Gov. “Algore” Ritter won’t be slowed down by either facts or concerns about your freedom. Remember, Colorado, what you get when you put the Democrats in charge.
‘L, when we put the GOP in charge we got thangs like Ref. C, which then Guvnah Bill Owens shepherded into law:
http://taxincrease.org/
On th’ nashnul level George Bush signed McCain/Feingold into law.
But I unduhstan it’s the lesser o’ two weevils ‘n all-at.
Jus’-at I think it’s true wut the libertarians say: ye surely lose yer liberty ‘n property unduh both the Dems and the GOP. Ye jus’ lose ’em a little mo’ slowly under the GOP.
The problem with Ritter’s plan, as I see it, is that it is nothing more than a platform talking point for the Democrats for the 2008 convention in Denver. The Democrats don’t fully understand the issue about conservation and maintaining a healthy earth, rather they use the emotional phrases, such as “Global Warming”, and “Global Climate Change”. These phrases conjure up images of post Katrina chaos and starving children in drought stricken Africa.
What is more important than “education” on climate change, is to understand world weather patterns, the implications of heat absorbing concrete spanning cities (and thus making temperatures more extreme in the summer in the city), and how to be better stewards of the environment as a whole. This has nothing to do with climate change, rather an overall effect that we are having on smaller ecosystems.
There is a difference, for example, between an environmentalist and a conservationist. The environmentalist will stand by and watch a forest be overrun with disease and infestation for the sake of letting the environment do what it naturally will due… even though forecasters agree that the entire forest is bound to be destroyed by a record breaking wildfire… The conservationist will support maintining a healthy forest by way of thinning out dead or infested trees, and ensuring the lasting existance of the forest and it’s habitat.
The Democrats approach the issue of the environment like environmentalists… with idiotic ideas and delusions of some utopian lightswitch that makes it all better.
Those of us on the Republican side who are environment-minded seem to have a much better approach… rather than scaring the masses into believing shaky science, we take action to clean up our local communities through organizations such as the Audobon Society, and we pass on the importance of conservation to our children through outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and hunting.
Bill Ritter has the right intent, but is he ever off base?
Right on, Steven!