Global Warming: The Miseducation of South Dakotans

The greatness of a nation is measured by the education of its youth. Two primary subject matter by which they are sized up against the rest of the world are math and science. In the past eight years, science has often taken a back seat to the predisposition of the fossil fuel lobbyists, one of the loyal base of the previous Bush administration, in order to minimize the effects of human behavior on climate change. It had gotten so onerous that President Obama saw fit to reinstate science back into its prominent place of greatness and prestige in his inauguration speech:

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its costs. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Apparently South Dakota did not get the memo that the United States is no longer in the business of sullying the waters of the sound science of hypothesis testing and data analysis with the junk science of political ideology and basic instincts. That is because thanks to a resolution passed by the South Dakota House of Representative, students can now be taught a “balanced teaching on climate change”. Specifically, students can now be taught that global warming can also be caused by “astrological, thermological…dynamics”. Dr. Pat Zimmerman, former Chair of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Atmospheric Science Department, says the legislation brings shame on state of South Dakota:

“These misguided grandstanding efforts exposes the level of ignorance of South Dakota to the rest of the world and it’s an embarrassment,”

Read the entire South Dakota House Resolution (only one page long).

Here is Rachal Maddow’s take on the new legislation:

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