AZ Parents Call on Ed Board to Reject Curriculum that Denies Climate Science

September 20, 2018: More than five hundred Arizona parents and science supporters have signed a petition calling on the Arizona Board of Education to reinstate content focused on evidence-based climate change that was expunged from the most recent draft. The petition, which will be delivered to the Board during a September 24 public hearing, was authored by Climate Parents, a program of the Sierra Club. 

Before the hearing, there will be a rally in front of the Department of Education at 1535 W. Jefferson Street in Phoenix, starting at 8 a.m.

Lisa Hoyos, Climate Parents Director, stated: “All students deserve access to a 21st century science education that includes climate science.” She added, “In an era of unprecedented climate impacts from wildfires to draught, today’s students need to understand the science behind human-caused climate change so they can help innovate solutions.”

Climate Parents works to defend the integrity of climate science education in numerous states -- including West Virginia, Wyoming and Kentucky -- that have sought to misrepresent or eliminate information about human-caused climate change within science standards.

The text of the petition that was signed by Arizona parents and science supporters reads:

Dear Members of the Board,

We respectfully call upon you to reject the proposed K-12 science standards and to return them to the department of education with instructions to review, revise, and further improve them, in particular with respect to their treatment of climate change.

Students must not be kept in the dark about evidence-based climate science. They need a real-world 21st century science education that includes climate science. Evidence of human caused climate change is overwhelming and teaching fact-based climate science to K-12 students is just as essential as other geosciences.

At a time when the impacts of climate change, like extreme storms, severe droughts, and catastrophic wildfires are escalating, all students have the right to be taught accurate scientific evidence about what is causing climate change -- and what they can do about it.

Reject the proposed science standards until they are revised to restore accurate information about evidence-based climate change.

Tell the Arizona Board of Education to reject the proposed standards until they are revised to restore accurate information about evidence-based climate change.

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