Science or Fiction?

We send our children to school to learn facts, not fiction. And yet political correctness often masquerades as science when it comes to lessons on the environment, according to the report "Are We Building Scientific Literacy?" conducted by the Independent Commission on Environmental Education.

One of the worst offenders is the Environmental Protection Agency which offers a mix of advocacy and science in order to further its agenda. The book Environmental Science: Working With the Earth, recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency, is a perfect example: "When a chain saw slices into the heartwood of a two-thousand year old Coast Redwood, it's slicing into my guts... Madmen and madwomen are wrecking this beautiful, blue-green, living Earth."

Millions of children are being taught that "growth in world population may result in massive starvation, that ozone depletion will cause epidemics of deadly skin cancer, and that global warming will cause the polar ice caps to melt and flood coastal cities," according to Michael Sanera, the author of Facts Not Fear: A Parent's Guide to Teaching Children About the Environment. The problem is that these predictions of gloom and doom are not based on facts.

The plain truth is that world population growth peaked in the late '60s and then began to decline. Despite reports of incessant ozone depletion, there have been no epidemics of skin cancer, cataracts, immune diseases, or ecological calamities. Moreover, the government's own measurements, as cited by the National Center for Public Policy Research, show that the earth's temperature has cooled by .037 degrees Celsius over the past 18 years.

Educators are supposed to teach students how to think critically about the facts, not how to lobby on behalf of environmental groups. Keep politics out of the classroom. Children deserve an education that will equip them to address the real dangers of the 21st century.