Collision Course with Reality

To update a favorite one-liner from the 1970s, global warming is for people who can’t face reality. The realists at the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) have launched a campaign called Balanced Education for Everyone (BEE).

“Since the campaign kickoff earlier this month, we’ve heard from a father of triplet boys in Denver, CO who says he typically has to re-teach his sons about climate change when they come home from school,” Christina Jamison of IWF reports. “A father in Indiana whose children have had to watch An Inconvenient Truth several times at school just yesterday went back to ask they show Not Evil, Just Wrong as a counterpoint to the Al Gore movie.”

“We’ve heard from a father in Maryland who has approached his school about showing Not Evil, Just Wrong in the classroom and gets to make his case” on April 28, 2010.

Meanwhile, “Students joined academic, business and government leaders in Montclair today to celebrate the launch of the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies at Montclair State University,” PR Newswire reports. “Funded by a $400,000 grant from the PSEG Foundation, the Institute will play a transformative role in multidisciplinary sustainability-related research and education, and spur new partnerships between academia, industry and community.”

“PSEG’s funding will allow Montclair State to host a significant examination of the major issues affecting long-term environmental practices and sustainability issues in New Jersey. The grant, which will be given over three years, will help fund a program that will begin with a major international conference on sustainability at Montclair State this fall, followed by two years of research to address critical issues, and include a second conference addressing areas requiring further research.”

A Rasmussen poll posted on April 20, 2010 shows that:

• “Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans now believe there is a significant disagreement within the scientific community over global warming, up seven points from early December just after the so-called “Climategate” scandal involving doctored or deliberately undisclosed scientific evidence first broke;
• “In April 2008, 47% of voters blamed human activity for global warming, while only 34% viewed long-term planetary trends as the cause. Since then, these results have reversed, and now long-term planetary trends are seen as the chief culprit for global warming;
• “Twenty-one percent (21%) of adults say Americans are being selfish by putting their economic concerns ahead of the fight against global warming. Sixty percent (60%) disagree with this assessment, and 20% are undecided;
• “In the December survey, 59% of Americans said it was at least somewhat likely that some scientists have falsified research data to support their own theories and beliefs about global warming. That number included 35% who said it was very likely;
• “In the beginning of the year, 43% of adults said global warming was creating climate changes that lead to more extreme weather events. Just as many (43%), however, did not believe this to be true. Fourteen percent (14%) were not sure.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.