UPPERWEATHER.COM _{-Meteorological Musings}

I didn't really want to say anything about the Jo Abbess vs BBC debacle because it was so well covered everywhere else, but another example of the same thing has just come to my attention. They actually want to change the text of a high school text book, just because it gives both sides of the debate.

Here are the statements they took issue with:

1. "It is a foolish politician who today opposes environmentalism. And that creates a problem, because not all environmental issues are equally deserving of support. Take the case of global warming." (p. 559)

They act like this is a denialist statement, but really it is just saying that million gallon oil spills are more important than saving the four Boreal Toads in Breckenridge Colorado.

Isn't this a government text? That is the absolute truth! If they were to spend equal time and energy on every issue, we would be in a much worse fix than we are today.

2. "The earth has become warmer, but is this mostly the result of natural climate changes, or is it heavily influenced by humans putting greenhouse gases into the air?" (p.559)

As I study this issue more and more I am starting to take issue with the claim that the "earth has become warmer". That aside, and the fact I would rather have it say that AGW is a hoax, this seems to give both side of the issue quite well.

3. "On the one hand, a warmer globe will cause sea levels to rise, threatening coastal communities; on the other hand, greater warmth will make it easier and cheaper to grow crops and avoid high heating bills." (p. 559)

Again, I do not agree that coastal communities are threatened, but if you were to give both sides equal balance, crops do grow better in higher CO2 environments. They do! Ask any gardener.

4. "But many other problems are much less clear-cut. Science doesn't know how bad the green-house effect is." (p. 566)

Here I am sure they want to use the Caltrop again. Come on, this is supposed to be a text book that will be used for years and years. They would be so embarrassed in ten years if they had put anything different and we come to see that AGW is the hoax that I know it is.

Bottom line here is that this atrocity of a website is sending out emails to every congressman and governor in America, telling them

"I am writing to urge Houghton Mifflin to immediately issue a corrective packet to all the school districts currently using the textbook: American Government, 11th edition, by Professors James Q. Wilson and John J. DiIulio, Jr. I also ask that Houghton Mifflin work to make all the revisions necessary to the next edition."

I don't have the time to write a script that would send a counter e-mail for you, (although I might be able to just do it for my two readers) but please write them on your own and tell them why the text should stand the way it is.