Green Leaf Reflections on Science Teachers

It's mid October, and the leaves are still very green. Faint signs of autumn are beginning to become visible, but as this morning's Springfield News-Leader reports, "maples often peak in mid-October, but that could be delayed this year because of unseasonably warm weather." Indeed, it is obvious now that the fall spectacle in the Ozarks is delayed, and we must grow accustomed to human accelerated climate change. We are now years into the current trend of warming global temperatures, and finally the world has begun to listen to the scientists. Hopefully, we are not too late to avert an ecological disaster.

This message is written, however, to thank all of those who, through the years have been willing to stand up in the face of ignorance and special interest groups to bravely educate the citizenry about the fact that our human actions are affecting Earth in extraordinarily negative ways. In spite of hateful and inflamatory remarks from those who continue to hide their heads in the sand, these brave scientists and educators have spoken the truth. They continue to do what scientists do; critically and objectively analyzing the data. And, the scientific results still supply mounting evidence supporting the hypothesis that our increasing appetite for and use of fossil fuels has significantly increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, leading to rising global temperatures.
And so, this day I say congratulations to you, Mr. Gore, and your team of scientists, whose work has finally been recognized globally with your acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Most of all, however, I want to thank all of those informed teachers, educators, mentors, and professors in the classrooms of the world. Thanks for objectively presenting the evidence of global warming with both eyes wide open, unblinded by the anti-science forces that seek domination and control of our thoughts and actions for the sake of greed and power.

It's going to take many serious and concerted efforts to kick our nation's and our world's fossil fuel addiction, but we owe it to the generations to come to meet this challenge head on. With an informed citizenry that values both objective scientific inquiry and diplomacy to resolve global challenges, we just might have a chance.


“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” -From the Great Law of the Iroquois