NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2013/05/31

(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear Friends of NCSE,

A setback for the attempt to remove the unconstitutional Balanced
Treatment Act from Louisiana's statutes. A statement supporting the
teaching of climate change from the American Meteorological Society.
And a preview of John A. Long's The Dawn of the Deed.

BACK TO 1981 IN LOUISIANA

At its May 29, 2013, meeting, the Louisiana House Committee on
Education declined to endorse the attempt to repeal Louisiana's
Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act.
Enacted in 1981, the Balanced Treatment act was declared to be
unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Edwards v.
Aguillard in 1987, but remains in the state's statutes nevertheless.
At the May 1, 2013, meeting of the Senate Committee on Education, Dan
Claitor (R-District 16) proposed to amend Senate Bill 205 -- which
originally provided only for the establishment of foreign language
immersion programs in public school districts -- to repeal the act;
the amendment was unanimously adopted by the committee on a voice
vote.

The amendment followed on the heels of the failure of Senate Bill 26,
which would have repealed the so-called Louisiana Science Education
Act. Karen Carter Peterson (D-District 5), who introduced SB 26 (and
identical bills in 2012 and 2011), was quoted by the Associated Press
(May 13, 2013) as saying, "This act should not be on the books ... It
does not make sense." Peterson also proposed to amend SB 205 to repeal
the LSEA, but her motion was rejected on a 5-32 vote. Ben Nevers
(D-District 12), who sponsored the LSEA in the Senate in 2008,
expressed opposition to the repeal of the Balanced Treatment Act,
arguing that it would be useful for it to be on the books in case the
Edwards decision is ever reversed.

At the House committee's meeting, discussion centered on the
provisions concerning the foreign language immersion programs. Asked
about the repeal provision, the bill's sponsor Eric LaFleur
(D-District 28) described it as "oddball," and indicated that he would
not object if it were to be removed. Eventually Rob Shadoin
(R-District 12) proposed to remove the provision repealing the
Balanced Treatment Act; his amendment was adopted by voice vote, and
the amended bill then passed 7-6. SB 205 now proceeds to the House of
Representatives. If it passes, either the Senate will concur with the
removal of the repeal provision or the bill will go to a conference
committee. The legislative session ends on June 6, 2013.

For information on Louisiana's Senate Bills 205 and 26, visit:
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=13RS&b=SB205 
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=13RS&b=SB26 

For the text of the decision in Edwards v. Aguillard, visit:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/edwards-v-aguillard.html 

For the Associated Press story (via the Lafayette Advertiser), visit:
http://www.theadvertiser.com/viewart/20130513/NEWS01/305130021/Senate-rejects-attempt-kill-Louisiana-Science-Act 

And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Louisiana, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/louisiana 

"CLIMATE SCIENCE IS CORE TO SCIENCE EDUCATION"

The American Meteorological Society, in a policy statement adopted on
May 23, 2013, affirmed the importance of climate science to science
education. The AMS criticized attempts to undermine the teaching of
climate change "by those seeking to frame it as somehow different from
other scientific subjects, often with claims that it is either
'uncertain' or 'controversial.' They advocate the need for a special
approach to its teaching, such as added effort to balance
perspectives." "With this statement, the AMS seeks to confirm the
solid scientific foundation on which climate change science rests, and
to emphasize that teaching approaches different from other sciences
are not warranted. Uncertainty is a natural component of all
scientific endeavor. The existence of uncertainty does not undermine
the scientific validity of climate change science; to the contrary, it
provides a sound example for broader instruction of the scientific
method."

The statement continues by reviewing the scientific basis of climate
science ("The primary findings of climate change science have been
well established in the peer-reviewed science literature and
replicated by numerous independent investigators and methodologies.
... There are small scientific differences as research continues to
refine the details, but there is strong agreement on the primary
findings and essentially no controversy with respect to them.") and
debunking the idea that it is inherently dubious ("Scientists
acknowledge and work routinely within a framework of uncertainty. ...
Aspects of climate science such as the greenhouse effect, the flows of
solar and terrestrial radiation, and feedbacks are as scientifically
sound as gravity, the human genome, or orbital mechanics.") "Climate
literacy in the next generation of U.S. citizens," the AMS concluded,
"will ensure a firm foundation of knowledge and discourse as society
faces decisions on how to best deal with a changing climate."

For the statement, visit:
http://www.ametsoc.org/POLICY/2013climatesciencecorescienceeducation_amsstatement.html 

For NCSE's collection of organizational statements in support of
climate education, visit:
http://ncse.com/climate/taking-action/voices-climate-change-education 

A GLIMPSE OF THE DAWN OF THE DEED

NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview of John A. Long's The Dawn of
the Deed: The Prehistoric Origins of Sex (University of Chicago Press,
2012). The preview consists of chapter 8, "At the Dawn of Archaic
Sex," in which Long asks, "So when and why did organisms first start
reproducing by sex?" and answers with the first eukaryotes "1.78 to
1.68 billion years ago," and because sexual populations "can adapt
more readily to changes in environment .. [and] are less prone to
accumulation of deleterious mutations in their genes."

The reviewer for Publishers Weekly writes, "Combining thoughtful
science with sheer fun, this book is impossible to put down. ... The
book is far from prurient, even though it's intriguing to hypothesize
how 70-ton dinosaurs might have copulated. Long provides great insight
into the process of science and makes the compelling case that
understanding the history of sexual congress offers incontrovertible
documentation of the evolutionary process." John A. Long is vice
president of research and collections at the Natural History Museum of
Los Angeles County.

For the preview of The Dawn of the Deed (PDF), visit:
http://ncse.com/book-excerpt 

For information about the book from its publisher, visit:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo13183022.html 

Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website --
http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on 
evolution and climate education and threats to them.

--
Sincerely,

Glenn Branch
Deputy Director
National Center for Science Education, Inc.
420 40th Street, Suite 2
Oakland, CA 94609-2509
510-601-7203 x305
fax: 510-601-7204
800-290-6006
branch@ncse.com 
http://ncse.com 

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