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The Critic's Resource on AntiEvolution

NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2014/10/24

(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)

Dear friends of NCSE,

A reminder that speakers from NCSE are available. And over 24,000
Texans are calling for errors in the coverage of climate change in
social studies textbooks under consideration to be corrected.

NEED A SPEAKER?

As the only national organization that is wholly dedicated to
defending the teaching of evolution and climate change in the public
schools, NCSE is the perfect place to find someone to speak to your
organization or university about issues relevant to evolution and
climate education and attacks on either or both. Available speakers
include NCSE's executive director Ann Reid, Minda Berbeco, Glenn
Branch, Mark McCaffrey, Joshua Rosenau, and Steven Newton, as well as
NCSE's founding executive director Eugenie C. Scott and four (past or
present) members of our board of directors, Barbara Forrest, Kevin
Padian, Andrew J. Petto, and Benjamin D. Santer. So if you need a
speaker, please feel free to visit the speakers information page on
the NCSE website or get in touch with the NCSE office. If nobody from
NCSE is available or suitable, we'll try to find you someone who is!

For the speaker information page, visit:
http://ncse.com/about/speakers 

For NCSE's contact information, visit:
http://ncse.com/contact 

TEXANS TO PUBLISHERS: FIX FLAWED TEXTBOOKS

Over 24,000 Texans have signed petitions calling on the Texas board of
education to require the correction of errors in the coverage of
climate change in social studies textbooks presently under
consideration. As NCSE previously reported, among the problematic
claims are  a statement that fossil fuel emissions have caused a hole
in the ozone layer over Antarctica; a claim that scientists "disagree
about what is causing climate change"; and a quotation from a
notorious climate change denial organization presented in rebuttal of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The petitions were delivered in person to the board and the publishers
on October 20, 2014. In a joint press release issued the same day by
NCSE, the Texas Freedom Network, and Climate Parents, NCSE's Josh
Rosenau explained, "From the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream
waters, teachers and school boards want textbooks that handle climate
change  accurately, and they are watching to see which publishers fix
these errors." He added, "These petitions show that parents, teachers,
students, and voters across Texas will make sure the board doesn't let
these errors slip into their classrooms."

"Students in Texas and around the country will be living with the
consequences of climate change for the rest of their lives," Ryan
Valentine of the Texas Freedom Network commented. "They deserve
textbooks that tell them the truth about what they are up against."
And Lisa Hoyos of Climate Parents added, "Censoring climate science in
order to sell books is unethical and an unacceptable disservice to
students, and must be corrected." The Texas state board of education
is expected to vote in November 2014 about which textbooks to place on
the approved list for use in the state.

For the press release, visit:
http://ncse.com/taking-action-climate/texans-to-publishers-fix-flawed-textbooks 

For the websites of the Texas Freedom Network and Climate Parents, visit:
http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=TFN_homepage 
http://www.climateparents.org/ 

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

WHAT'S NEW FROM THE SCIENCE LEAGUE OF AMERICA

Have you been visiting NCSE's blog, The Science League of America,
recently? If not, then you've missed:

* Josh Rosenau explaining the latest in the fight over Texas social
studies textbooks:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/10/there-s-still-time-to-fix-texas-textbooks-0015942 

* Mark McCaffrey discussing whom the public trusts to communicate
climate science:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/10/trusted-messengers-0015934 

* Glenn Branch investigating whether a 1925 Hungarian play anticipated
Inherit the Wind:
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/10/inherit-wind-avant-lettre-part-1-0015923 
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/10/inherit-wind-avant-lettre-part-2-0015924 
http://ncse.com/blog/2014/10/inherit-wind-avant-lettre-part-3-0015925 

And much more besides!

For The Science League of America, visit:
http://ncse.com/blog 

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 x303
fax: 510-601-7204
800-290-6006
branch@ncse.com 
http://ncse.com 

Check out NCSE's new blog, Science League of America:
http://ncse.com/blog 

Read Reports of the NCSE on-line:
http://reports.ncse.com 

Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter:
http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news 

NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter:
http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse 
http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd 
http://twitter.com/ncse 

NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today!
http://ncse.com/join