A coalition of science advocacy groups have launched what they’re calling a Climate Science Bill of Rights to push for climate change to be taught in schools around the country. The campaign says all students deserve to explore the causes and consequences of climate change, free from political interference.
The groups behind the bill include Climate Parents, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the National Center for Science Education and the Alliance for Climate Education.
They say it’s a response to what happened here in Wyoming in March, when lawmakers added an amendment to the budget bill blocking a set of science standards called the Next Generation Science Standards because they acknowledged man’s role in climate change.
Climate Parents Director Lisa Hoyos says she hopes the Bill of Rights heads off similar attempts in other states.
“We felt like, you know, we’re going to keep having this fight in all the remaining states,” Hoyos said. “We need something that we can use as we continue to organize in various states that just asserts from the word go that scientists and kids and teachers and others support kids learning the truth about climate change.”
As of July 2014, 13 states have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards.