Pierce letter: Climate change
Recently, the Idaho House of Representatives voted to remove key references to climate change caused by human behavior from our state’s K-12 science standards. The rationale? They want to hear “both sides of the story.”
The Earth is warming, and people are the cause. Period. There is not any debate about this in the scientific community. There is not any “other side” to this story. Even the oil and gas industry acknowledges the fact that humans are indeed causing climate change.
So why are some of our elected leaders denying this? Rep. Scott Syme and Sen. Dan Foreman are clearly in what I would call in The 5 Stages of Climate Grief. Foreman went so far as to say climate change is a liberal “scam” and “ridiculous nonsense.”
Idaho legislators — please do the right thing and lead your people. The right thing to do is educate our agricultural communities about what will and won’t grow in Idaho in a warmer and drier future. The right thing is to learn how we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and invest and profit from clean energy alternatives. The right thing is to educate our citizens and children about climate change.
Dr. Jennifer Pierce, Boise
This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Pierce letter: Climate change."