Is Climate Change a Fact or a Philosophy?
A while back, I posted about a case in London that addressed the issue of whether climate change was a philosophical belief. If so, a person who acted on those beliefs could not be discriminated against in the workplace (which is how the court ruled). The case raised the question of whether climate change could be viewed as a matter of faith, rather than science, though I noted that the issue had not yet come up in a U.S. court. Well, it looks like they skipped the courts and went straight to the state legislatures.
There are now fifteen states that have considered or passed resolutions or statutes that support the position that climate change does not exist, has been manipulated or is only a matter of opinion.
For example, Kentucky's resolution states that there is "serious doubt upon the scientific data that have purportedly supported the finding that manmade carbon dioxide has been a material cause of global warming or global climate change." Based on this serious doubt, the Kentucky legislature seeks to prohibit any state institution from enacting OR ENFORCING, "any federal, state or local law . . . that limits, regulates, or controls the emission of carbon dioxide."
South Dakota, noting that "there are a variety of climatological and meteorlogical dynamics that can affect world weather phenomena, and the significance and interralitivity of these factors remain unresolved," resolved that teaching of climate change in public schools, "be presented in a balanced and objective manner and be appropriate to the age and acedemic developmenty of the student and to the prevailing classroom circuimstances."
Virginia, never one to mince words, simply proposes to declare that "carbon dioxide shall not be considered air pollution."
It makes you wonder where the debate is going. Certainly if a state legislature declares that federal law must be ignored, litigation could follow. We might then see a replay of the Scopes Monkey Trial, just as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce predicted. The problem is that the Scopes trial wasn't exactly the high point of American jurisprudence. I wonder if it would fare better this time.
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