From NCSE’s Weekly Evolution and Climate Change Update:
DUANE GISH DIES
The young-earth creationist Duane T. Gish died on March 5, 2013, at the age of 92, according to Answers in Genesis’s obituary.
Born on February 17, 1921, in White City, Kansas, he served in the U.S. Army from 1940 to 1946 in the Pacific Theater of Operations, attaining the rank of captain. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1949, and then a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1953. After a stint as a postdoctoral fellow and then assistant professor of biochemistry at Cornell University Medical College, he returned as a researcher to the University of California, Berkeley, from 1956 to 1960, before joining the Upjohn Company as a researcher from 1960 to 1971. In 1971, he became the vice president of the Institute for Creation Research, founded in 1970 by Henry Morris. In 2005, Gish retired, becoming the ICR’s Senior Vice President Emeritus. A prolific writer, his most famous book was Evolution: The Fossils Say No! (Master Books, 1973), entitled in later editions Evolution: The Challenge of the Fossil Record (Master Books, 1985) and Evolution: The Fossils Still Say No! (Master Books, 1995). His most recent book was Letter to a Theistic Evolutionist (ICON, 2012).
But Gish was famous, or notorious, principally on account of his debates with scientists, including such opponents as George Bakken, Kenneth R. Miller, Massimo Pigliucci, Kenneth Saladin, Michael Shermer, and William Thwaites. “If the mild-mannered professorial Morris was the Darwin of the creationist movement,” wrote Ronald L. Numbers in The Creationists (2006), “then the bumptious Gish was its T. H. Huxley.” Gish boasted of having engaged in over three hundred debates. He was certainly a lively debater, whose style involved a rapid delivery of arguments on widely varying topics; his debate style was dubbed the “Gish Gallop” by NCSE’s executive director Eugenie C. Scott in 1994. But scientists quickly concluded—in the words of Karl Fezer, writing in 1993 — that “Gish will say, with rhetorical flourish and dramatic emphasis, whatever he thinks will serve to maintain, in the minds of his uncritical followers, his image as a knowledgeable ‘creation scientist.’ An essential component is to lard his remarks with technical detail; whether that detail is accurate or relevant or based on unambiguous evidence is of no concern. When confronted with evidence of his own error, he resorts to diversionary tactics and outright denial.”
For Answers in Genesis’s obituary, visit:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2013/03/06/gish-home
For Scott’s “Debates and the Globetrotters,” visit:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/debating/globetrotters.html
For Fezer’s “Creation’s Incredible Witness” (PDF, pp. 5-21), visit:
http://ncse.com/files/pub/CEJ/pdfs/CEJ_33.pdf
“TOWARD A CLIMATE & ENERGY LITERATE SOCIETY”
A new report issued by the National Center for Science Education, “Toward a Climate & Energy Literate Society,” offers recommendations for improving climate and energy literacy in the United States over the course of the next decade. As NCSE’s Mark McCaffrey remarked in a March 4, 2013, press release announcing the report, “We have lots of information about climate change, but much of it is falling on deaf ears”; “Toward a Climate & Energy Literate Society” is intended to provide a way forward. As the executive summary explains:
“Understanding the causes of and responding to climate change is the major challenge of the 21st century. Most Americans do not understand the basics of climate change and energy or how they are inextricably connected, yet informed decisions, a prepared workforce, and risk reductions are not possible without a clear understanding of these topics. Research shows that in general those who have a basic understanding of the science are more concerned with addressing climate change (Leiserowitz 2010, 2011, Miller 2012). Moreover, improving society’s climate and energy literacy should be a top priority addressed through science education and through a range of other education, communication, and outreach strategies.”
To counter the scientific illiteracy standing in the way of meeting these urgent 21st-century challenges, a group of fifty leaders in the climate and energy community gathered in Berkeley, California, between December 7 and 9, 2012, to participate in the Climate and Energy Literacy Summit hosted by the National Center for Science Education.
The attendees included climate, energy, education, technology, and research experts, curriculum developers, philanthropists, science journalists, representatives from climate- and energy-related non-profits and professional societies, federal and state agencies, and the National Academy of Sciences.
The goal of the Summit was to identify ways “to substantially and measurably improve climate and energy literacy to provide society and the next generation with the scientific foundation to take informed actions to minimize climate impacts and prepare for changes that are already well underway.”
Participants agreed that many components already exist to forge a national climate and energy literacy initiative, but substantial challenges remain in terms of coordination, training and funding.
Following are key recommendations of the Summit:
- Create a national initiative using the Collective Impact approach for effective partnership by developing a common agenda, shared measures, engaging in reinforcing activities and continuous communication, and having a supporting infrastructure;
- Significantly expand through private funding the availability of existing high-quality climate and energy related education, communication, and outreach programs;
- Emphasize teaching climate change and energy topics throughout education, which is vital to establishing a strong foundation for future decisions and in fostering resilient communities;
- Build on existing resources and frameworks, including the U.S.
Global Change Research Program’s Climate Literacy and Energy Literacy documents (see Appendix II);
- Support the climate and energy-related aspects of the forthcoming Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS);
- Collaborate with key programs and partners, including the 100K in 10 initiative, which aims to recruit and prepare 100,000 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers in ten years;
- Maximize the potential for digital learning opportunities, including online courses, educational gaming and the use of digital badges and certification;
- Identify and address the education, communications, and outreach needs of underserved and vulnerable communities relative to these topics;
- Conduct a national survey to determine whether, where, and how climate change and energy topics are taught in formal education; and
- Anticipate and effectively respond to denial and manufactured doubt about climate change.
“It’s easier said than done,” NCSE’s Minda Berbeco commented in the press release. “The challenges are considerable in terms of coordination, training, and funding.” But NCSE’s executive director Eugenie C. Scott insisted that the task is vital: “With climate change the major challenge of the 21st century, it is imperative to ensure that the current generation of K-12 and college students are equipped with the best scientific information available to help them make the crucial decisions about climate and energy policy that they will have to make.”
For “Toward a Climate & Energy Literate Society” (PDF), visit:
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/NCSE%20Climate%20and%20Energy%20Literacy%20Summit%20Report.pdf
For the press release, visit:
http://ncse.com/climate/summit-americans-illiterate-climate-change-want-to-know-more
A PREVIEW OF THE FLOODED EARTH
NCSE is pleased to offer a free preview of Peter D. Ward’s The Flooded Earth: Our Future in a World Without Ice Caps (Basic Books, 2010). The preview consists of the beginning of chapter 8, “Stopping Catastrophic Sea Rise,” in which Ward concludes “this not overly cheerful book with some specific strategies that, if successfully employed, could indeed give us hope that the ice sheets will not uncontrollably melt and that the seas will not catastrophically rise.”
The reviewer for Science Communication praised The Flooded Earth as “packed with information to explain how the path we are on increases CO2 levels and can create a flooded earth. It should be required reading for political decision makers everywhere.” and the reviewer for Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research described it as “an excellent reference for the educated lay person.” Peter D.
Ward is Professor of Biology and Earth and Space Sciences at the University of
Washington in Seattle.
For the preview of The Flooded Earth (PDF), visit:
http://ncse.com/book-excerpt
For information about the book from its publisher, visit:
http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/basic/book_detail.jsp?isbn=0465029051
ZACK KOPPLIN ON BILL MOYERS
Zack Kopplin, the young activist behind the initiative to repeal Louisiana’s antievolution law and the effort to expose the funding of creationism through vouchers-for-private-schools schemes nationally, was interviewed on Moyers and Company—and the segment is now viewable on line.
In the interview, Kopplin explained the genesis of the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act: “Senator Ben Nevers, who sponsored it, said the Louisiana Family Forum suggested the law to him because they wanted creationism discussed when talking about Darwin’s theory.
So we know from the horse’s mouth exactly what this law is about.” After the law was passed and enacted, Kopplin recounted, “for about two years I sort of stewed over this law. I wanted to fight it.” Then he decided to do so as part of a senior project in high school, enlisting the help of Barbara Forrest (a member of NCSE’s board of directors), Karen Carter Peterson, a state senator in Louisiana, and by now—no fewer than seventy-eight Nobel laureates in science.
Explaining why his activism came to extend to voucher schools, Kopplin told Moyers, “I didn’t initially really care about school vouchers … And then … a friend sent me an article by Alternet that had exposed a school in Louisiana in this voucher program that was apparently using curriculum that taught the Loch Ness Monster disproved evolution, and the Loch Ness Monster was real.”
Researching the use of creationist materials in voucher schools, Kopplin concluded that “over 300 schools in voucher programs in nine states and Washington DC are teaching creationism. We have schools that call evolution the way of the heathen. And so it’s become pretty clear if you create a voucher program, you’re just going to be funding creationism through the back door.”
In recognition of his defense of the integrity of science education, Kopplin received NCSE’s Friend of Darwin award, the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award, and the inaugural Troublemaker Award in 2012. A history major at Rice University, he is nineteen years old.
For the interview of Kopplin, visit:
http://billmoyers.com/segment/zack-kopplin-on-keeping-creationism-out-of-public-classrooms/
For the Friend of Darwin announcement in 2012, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/2012/03/friend-darwin-awards-2012-0013872
And for NCSE’s previous coverage of events in Louisiana, visit:
http://ncse.com/news/louisiana
ANTICLIMATE BILL DIES IN KANSAS
Kansas’s House Bill 2306, a “strengths and weaknesses” bill aimed at climate science alone, died on March 1, 2013, when a deadline for bills to be considered in their house of origin passed. If enacted, HB 2306 would have expressed the legislature’s recognition that “the teaching of certain scientific topics, such as climate science, may be controversial” and encouraged “the teaching of such scientific controversies to be made in an objective manner in which both the strengths and weaknesses of such scientific theory or hypothesis are covered.”
According to the state legislature’s website, HB 2306 was introduced by the House Standing Committee on Education, rather than by any individual legislator. Saying that the sponsors “fancy themselves scientists who think that public school teachers should question prevailing scientific opinion on climate change,” the Hutchinson News (February 20, 2013) editorially commented, “In a session that has seen some wacko ideas, this one is out there.” The editorial concluded by urging, “Leave the science to scientists and the teaching to teachers.”
For the text of Kansas’s House Bill 2306 (PDF), visit:
http://kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2306_00_0000.pdf
For the editorial in the Hutchinson News, visit:
http://www.hutchnews.com/Editorialblogs/edit-teaching-climate-change
NCSE’S BRANCH AT DESMOGBLOG
What is the source of the antiscience bills that have been infesting statehouses around the country? In “Not Smart, But Not ALEC Either,” posted on DeSmogBlog (February 28, 2013), NCSE’s deputy director Glenn Branch explains that although the American Legislative Exchange Council is sometimes blamed for having drafted a model bill that inspired antiscience bills like Arizona’s Senate Bill 1213, “the bill is, historically, a manifestation not of antienvironmentalism but of antievolutionism.”
“It’s not as though ALEC isn’t interested in undermining the teaching of climate science in the public schools,” Branch acknowledges. “But so far there is no clear evidence” of ALEC’s involvement with any of the current crop of antiscience bills, “while there is ample evidence that the Discovery Institute is actively encouraging their introduction and supporting their passage.” In any case, he insists, it is clear that “these bills, if enacted, would compromise the quality of science education.”
For Branch’s post at DeSmogBlog, visit:
http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/02/28/not-smart-not-alec-either
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.