Climate Change Causes Heated Battles For Science Teachers

Climate Change Causes Heated Battles For Science Teachers

Prior to taking Mr. Visco's high school science class, Keith Hogan did not believe humans had had any hand in climate UGG Boots Black Friday change.

"I thought the media had just picked that up and blown it out of proportion," he said.

Hogan remembers the day the "lightbulb went off," about four years ago. He'd always been into cars and would get defensive if someone tried to pin climate change on vehicle emissions. But when Mr. Visco pointed out that the methane spewing from livestock was actually a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, Hogan opened up and began to reconsider, and then accept, the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change.

"Keith was like George Bush in disguise," recalled Chris Visco, who is now retired. "It's funny how things progressed with him."

Imparting the science of climate change is not always so easy. avoided taking Mr. Visco's class, aware that they'd hear views that conflicted with their own. And around the country from Washington State to Oklahoma pressure and pushback from skeptical students, teachers and administrators pose challenges.

In 2008, Louisiana voted to allow public school teachers to teach both UGGS On Sale creationism and the views of climate change skeptics. Last May, a school board in Las Alamitos, Calif., voted unanimously to require environmental science teachers cover "multiple perspectives" on climate change. That decision was later rescinded.

"For every [conflict] you hear about there are probably 10 you don't, and probably 100 teachers that will just not teach it because that is the easiest way out," said Mi