Oh for the love of Christ!
David Seymour describes new climate change curriculum as ‘state-organised bullying of kids’
The new climate change curriculum for schools has been described as “state-organised bullying of kids” by MP David Seymour, who says it will “take us backwards as a society”.
Seymour, leader of the ACT Party, said he’s concerned the curriculum doesn’t allow for students to debate the science, telling Magic Talk he fears it’s designed to suppress opposing views.
“There is a supporting document that is all about how to deal with kids that disagree and one of the things it says is that if you’ve got a difficult kid that disagrees just change the seating plan.”
Seymour was referring to the “wellbeing guide” provided to teachers, which tells them: “With angry or obstructive students (depending on your understanding of them), consider seating plan, offer choices for ways to proceed, or share authority by delegating a student.”
…oh come on David! Rather than consoling redneck snowflakes for their climate denial ignorance, students should be getting taught on how to nationalise all energy monopolies, transport networks + prosecution of oil industry for crimes against humanity!
I don’t care about the feelings of adult climate deniers, I sure as hell don’t care about the feelings of child climate deniers!
We. Face. An. Existential. Crisis!!!!!
The speed of climate change and the ability to trip built in tipping points inside the biosphere are so close now that only radical economic, social, political and cultural changes can help with the adaptation the climate crisis will bring about.
Melting frozen methane in the ocean and permafrost will cause a run away cascade heating event which can spike global temperatures up 8 degrees within a decade, that in turn melts Greenland’s ice shelf and the fresh water pouring into the Labrador Sea shuts down the Ocean conveyer current which in turn freezes Europe solid within the space of 5 years.
It is the extremes of these climate flips in the space of decades which will make vast swathes of the planet uninhabitable and our students should be made aware of the enormous threat that reality is.
Giving climate denying kids a cuddle is the least of our worries with this curriculum, that it doesn’t begin to go far enough is its real problem.
The asinine nature of Seymour’s comments should, as in ‘ought to’, serve as a heads-up to anyone seriously considering his fatuous proposal in a particular referendum later this year.
Wakey wakey folks, to that wannabe wokey blokey.
(song about him here 🙂
What does a teacher do if a child comes from a family who doesn’t believe the world is round or doesn’t believe in evolution or that the planet is more than 6000 years old.
The child has to have a chance to meet with new ideas that are mainstream and backed by the world’s scientific community..
Sensitivity towards the child’s difficult position is paramount so Science has to be taught as a system of examining evidence and looking for inconsistencies and likelihoods.
There is more than one child in a class so the content of the curriculum should be proceeded with.
Shaw’s idea of taking Climate Change directly to the classrooms is excellent. I hope the teachers and other adults listen to what the children have to say, as well, – so that it becomes a two-way learning situation, not just adults telling the children ‘how it is’.
Also, I hope the program helps children to deal with their own very natural, very understandable anxieties and concerns about it all.
Melting frozen methane in the ocean and permafrost will cause a run away cascade heating event
That bit seems to be happening already:
http://www.livescience.com/ocean-temperatures-break-record.html
Our planet’s oceans are warmer than they’ve ever been in recorded human history. And ocean temperatures are not only increasing, they are heating up at an accelerating rate, according to a new analysis.
—-
“The amount of heat we have put in the world’s oceans in the past 25 years equals to 3.6 billion Hiroshima atom-bomb explosions,” lead author Lijing Cheng, associate professor with the International Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said in the statement. “There are no reasonable alternatives aside from the human emissions of heat-trapping gases to explain this heating.”
More links on the rapidly warming oceans:
NBC News
CNN World
Vice Magazine
One more, noting that it is the accelerated speed of this heating- up that is the most alarming.
The warming is speeding up, the scientists found.
“We are now at five to six Hiroshima bombs of heat each second,” study co-author John Abraham, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of St. Thomas, told CNN.
Abraham said in a statement Monday announcing the study’s publication that the public needs to be aware “how fast things are changing.” Common Dreams Link Here
It is the extremes of these climate flips in the space of decades
I think it is arriving a whole lot faster than decades – We’re experiencing the first waves of it now. (By ‘it’ I mean a tsunami of unprecedented mega-changes all around us.)
Magic Talk host that is.
Although ocean heat content is arguably the best indicator of planetary overheating, land and air temperatures affect the viability of many human enterprises.
“The last decade was easily the warmest decade in the record and is the first decade more than 1C above late 19th-century temperatures,” said Gavin Schmidt, of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which produced one of the temperature records.
“What is important is the totality of evidence from multiple independent data sets that the Earth is warming, that human activity is driving it and the impacts are clearly being felt,” he said. “These announcements might sound like a broken record, but what is being heard is the drumbeat of the Anthropocene.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/15/climate-emergency-2019-was-second-hottest-year-on-record
Here is the Guardian article on how many hundreds of millions are spent by oil companies for lobbying alone, – to block climate change policies. (March 2019) oil-firms-spending-millions-lobbying-to-block-climate-change-policies
Here is one on how Rupert Murdoch’s media empire is leading the cover-up. (8th Jan 2020) murdochs-media-empire-is-leading-the-climate-coverup
Here’s one showing the billions of dollars paid by various US conservatives, groups and entities, to specifically deny climate change. It is from the Smithsonian Magazine, in 2013. meet-the-money-behind-the-climate-denial-movement
Here’s an article showing how they did it. This from CommonDreams last November. how-energy-companies-took-us-all
Dear Oil Company Executive,
Re: Your Most Effective Work in Stalling Climate Change Action.
This is a reference on behalf of someone who is doing some of your work for you. If you are not paying him, I think you should be – He does an excellent job. If you are, he deserves a raise! He is really very good at subtly disrupting, and subtly sabotaging, online discussions of climate change.
I just have one request. To reward him for his continuous efforts, please, please could you just throw in a free trip with all accommodation paid to some exotic distant place, where there is no internet access? For as long as possible?
Many thanks 🙂
Seymour is like one of those B Grade celebrities trying to keep relevant by making contentious comments on the latest trends on various forms of social media. The majority don’t care or read them accept B Grade people
“Our planet’s oceans are warmer than they’ve ever been in recorded human history”.
Just so I can have context, can you tell how long that recorded history is, or when it started?
Thanks.
G’day Mr Matt,
The quote you’re referring to comes with its own reference link, if you re-check above.
Here’s that link again: http://www.livescience.com/ocean-temperatures-break-record.html
(Tbh, I’m not sure whether you’re 100% sincere in your question, or whether you will be the proud and worthy first recipient of my honorary reference… Either way, cheers 🙂 )
Greta speaking in Switzerland, to massive crowds, and their enthusiastic responses.
thousands-swiss-climate-strikers-davos-greta-thunberg-tells-world-leaders
Thunberg, whose solo protests outside the Swedish Parliament in 2018 sparked the global Fridays for Future movement, is among a group of young climate activists who are expected to attend the annual World Economic Forum event, which will focus on “stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world.”
The youth activists are planning to attend the Davos summit to demand that “participants from all companies, banks, institutions, and governments immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies, and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels.”
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