SD House: Climate Change Science: NO Astrology: YES Reading: Probably Not

The SD Legislature is working on a resolution “Calling for balanced teaching of global warming in the public schools of South Dakota.”

Sure why not. It’s pretty tough for me to argue against a resolution that concludes, “the Legislature urges that all instruction on the theory of global warming be appropriate to the age and academic development of the student and to the prevailing classroom circumstances.”

I’m all about age appropriate education and prevailing classroom circumstances.

But hold on...

There are plenty of WHEREAS’s which read like a climate change denier’s blog post. That's VERY easy to argue against, especially when it finds its way into the legislature.

Here’s the best stuff though. The THEREFORES’s include this gem: “there are a variety of climatological, meteorological, astrological, thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics that can effect world weather phenomena and that the significance and interrelativity of these factors is largely speculative;”

This resolution that purports to know a great deal about the value of scientific evidence includes astrology in its list of sciences.

The House has approved this 36-30. The Senate continues to defer consideration. Maybe they're busy working on a resolution putting additional emphasis on legislator literacy.

(h/t)