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Fluffeh writes:
"For a few years the National Research Council, National Science Teachers Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have been working to put together a set of standards for teaching science in public education schools. So far, nine states and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards. Wyoming doesn't appear to have issues with evolution. Instead, climate science appears to be the problem. That's not because any of the legislators have actually studied the science involved and found it lacking. The issue appears to be solely with the implications of the science.
State Representative Matt Teeters had this to say '[The standards] handle global warming as settled science. There's all kind of social implications involved in that that I don't think would be good for Wyoming.' Specifically, Teeters seems to think that having citizens of the state accept climate science would 'wreck Wyoming's economy,' which relies heavily on fossil fuel production."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by zocalo on Monday March 17 2014, @07:44AM
Still, I can't help but feel this is just another case of people sticking their heads in the sand because they don't have an answer and hoepfully the next generation will. Trouble is, with this approach, the next generation won't be widely aware there is an issue either, so how is that going to help inspire them to think of a solution? The real solution would be to embrace the issue head on; "the coal is harmful and is going to run out anyway, so what are we going to do about it?"
I've been to Wyoming; an unusual destination for a European since many don't realise that the Tetons and Yellowstone are essentially within the state. It's a fantastically beautiful part of the U.S. that is largely unspoilt and scarcely populated. It's as much "big sky country" as Montana over the state line, and has those fantastic National Parks. Other countries have transitioned to tourist based economies in a carefully managed way (you need to avoid the mass influx to avoid ruining everything), perhaps Wyoming could do the same.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Tuesday March 18 2014, @01:05AM
Tourism has a basic problem as your economic base:
It depends on other people having disposable income, that they are willing to spend on your tourist attractions.
When others' economies dip, the tourism economy dies. And the only jobs it provides are in the service industries.
Tourism is fine as a secondary industry, but relying on it is folly.
(I speak as a resident of Montana, having watched swaths of this state's economy go to hell when the gas crunch killed "See the USA in your Chevrolet" as everyone's summer vacation.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.