David H. Greegor Jr.: Omitting science standards means erasing truth

We live in the most dangerous of times. The existence of truth is in peril. We are making capricious decisions in this country that will be regretted until the last human breath is taken on planet Earth. Examples abound, from the Oval Office to the Idaho Legislature.

On Feb. 27, the Idaho Senate Education Committee approved K-12 science standards, omitting five scientifically accurate paragraphs that contained terminology involving human impacts on the environment, which includes those on the global climate and biodiversity.

The House Education Committee, which deleted the paragraphs originally, sent the document to the Senate committee, which reinserted them and sent it back to the House committee for its acceptance. The House committee declined.

As Rep. Scott Syme put it, “The standards did not teach both sides of the debate.” I would ask Rep. Syme, “What debate?” Among those who pay attention not only to the overwhelming scientific evidence but also extraordinary and obvious weather and climate disasters (examples: melting glaciers and ice caps, mega-fires, record temperatures and superstorms), there is no debate.

I testified at the Senate hearing on Feb. 23. This is basically what I said:

“The HEC has ceased to be a committee on education. Science standards based on omission of critical scientific truths are, in effect, a lie. To teach basic ecological principles and concepts and the current state of the Earth, physically and biologically, and leave out man’s role would be akin to teaching laws of physics and omitting gravity. It is one thing to personally fantasize the world as “La La Land,” but quite another to drag others down your delusional path.

“This next generation will most likely be the last to “get it right.” If we fail to pass on to them an accurate as possible view of the world and how they need to right our wrongs in a relatively short span of time, we will be doing not only them and future generations a huge disservice, but also planet Earth, for which we should be the guardian, not the executioner. Fortunately, the youth of today are more informed than many adults; they aren’t going to be fooled by the omission of a few words.

“The Earth is not a grand experiment, a test tube, whereby if we don’t like the results of an emasculated EPA, giving federal lands to the states, letting coral reefs die and rain forests be cut, we don’t get to grab a fresh test tube. One shot.”

Truth has become a villain instead of a hero, to many. If this phenomenon continues to metastasize, it will be like a self-inflicted cancer. With a bumper year for precipitation in the drought-stricken West, the deniers of climate change are likely dancing in the streets. I would like to take those dancers on a field trip to the Arctic tundra and ocean, the Antarctic ice shelf, Greenland, the beaches of the world, five drowned Pacific islands and many other locations. My guess is that they would return with two left feet.