In hopes to facilitate better climate education for the children, the Portland Public Schools board have implemented drastic measures banning any teaching materials that deny or cast a doubt on climate change.
The resolution, passed last May 17, requires school district to remove textbooks and other teaching materials that suggest that climate change is not happening, or that states that human activities have nothing to with the changing climate.
The unanimously approved resolution also limit the use of words like "may," "might" and "could" in the district's curriculum, especially in science classes tackling climate change and its causes.
"A lot of the text materials are kind of thick with the language of doubt, and obviously the science says otherwise," Bill Bigelow, a former Portland public school teacher and current curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools magazine, told Portland Tribune.
Bigelow also mentioned that publishers of textbooks are yielding to the pressures from the fossil fuel industry.
"We don't want kids in Portland learning material courtesy of the fossil fuel industry," Bigelow added.
According to the report from The Weather Channel, Gaby Lemieux, a student at Lincoln High School supported the bold move of the board.
"Climate education is not a niche or a specialization, it is the minimum requirement for my generation to be successful in our changing world," explained Lemieux.
On the other hand, Fox News reported about the ongoing petition of Oregon Institute of Science and Technology, which was signed by over 31,000 American Scientists. According to the petition, the proposed limits in greenhouse gases emission would harm the environment, hinder the advancement of science and technology and damage the health and welfare of mankind.
"There is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth," the petition read.
However, United States Environmental Protection Agency begs to differ. In a report from US News & World Report, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy noted that climate change is not just about the polar bears.
"It really is about direct public health issues like asthma and kids, like cardiovascular and pulmonary disease associated with air pollution," said McCarthy.
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