Editorial: Politics undermines responsibility of science education centers

Sometimes it takes politics a long time to accept the science behind issues (e.g. the evolution debate). But what happens when science accepts the politics?

There comes a point when issues become so politicized that it’s impossible to mention them without stirring passions, thus, many prefer not to mention them at all. Apparently, this is the route many museums across the nation have taken regarding the issue of climate change.

According to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, U.S. science education facilities — including the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh — are not presenting or discussing anything regarding climate change. In fact, only about half of U.S. science facilities have openly addressed the issue.

But, science centers aren’t glossing over climate change because they believe it’s not happening. Rather, the politicization of the issue has forced it out of the discussion on climate change, mainly because funding for science centers depends primarily on private sources. Many of these private sources have political associations that may disagree with the concept of climate change.

“In the scientific community, there isn’t a lot of debate about climate change,” Jason Brown, the Carnegie Science Center’s director of science and education, told the Post-Gazette. 

But, when it comes to displaying climate change through their exhibits, “The politicization of the issue is one of the biggest challenges,” Brown said. 

As a result, many science education centers, like the Carnegie Science Center, omit climate change from their exhibits, which is a dangerous trend.

Why? Because it’s like omitting Kevin Bacon from a discussion on the movie “Footloose” — it’s an essential truth that Kevin Bacon stars in this film.

Just like it is true that Kevin Bacon is in “Footloose,” so is it true that climate change is present in nature. This is a silly example, but so is ignoring that climate change is a natural phenomenon.

According to a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “warming impacts are already being seen around the globe, in the acidification of the oceans, the melting of arctic ice and poorer crop yields in many parts.”

The report mainly focuses on how the global community can address climate change — because to the panel, it is not a matter of whether or not it is happening. Rather, it is a matter of how we must deal with this very real threat.

“Science has spoken,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of the IPCC report. “There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.” 

Scientific education centers should discuss climate change through their exhibits, just as they would with any other scientific reality.  A museum that doesn’t acknowledge climate change and its negative effects inhibits visitors’ understanding of an environmental crisis ­­— leading to confusion and denial. After all, one could not explain the extinction of the dinosaurs without mentioning the asteroid. 

We understand that science centers are concerned about funding. Yet, there is one way for science centers to get around the politics: display climate change as a phenomenon affecting the world.

Whether one thinks human actions caused climate change, or that it’s just a natural cycle, one cannot, in the face of a mountain of evidence, accurately state that climate change is not happening.

Science education centers that don’t mention climate change ignore reality — something, one would think, science centers would be the last entity to do.