Some High Plains states are proposing bills that would allow climate change denial to be taught in public schools, under the rubric of “academic freedom,” reports Vice.
For example, Oklahoma’s Senate Bill 393 would allow teachers to label both climate change and evolution as “controversial” theories. This despite the fact that 97 percent of accredited climate scientists agree that mankind is largely responsible for global warming trends. The bill has passed the Senate and now heads to the Oklahoma House for a vote.
Meanwhile, Texas has proposed a similar bill.
Both laws would allow teachers to label the science as controversial, but they wouldn’t require it. This makes the constitutionality of the laws difficult to challenge.
In response to the legislation David Evans, executive director of the National Science Teacher Association, said “I’m not uncomfortable with teaching science controversy, but I am uncomfortable with teaching a controversy where there isn’t one in the science.”
