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A recently introduced legislative proposal addresses so-called "controversial topics" and requires that public colleges and universities teach "both sides" of these issues.
Senate Bill 83, titled the Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act, includes provisions mandating that institutions of higher education allow students to "come to their own conclusions" on specific topics without faculty or staff instilling "any social, political, or religious point of view."
The topics subject to this rule reflect the usual culture war issues -- abortion, immigration, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Adding climate change to that list undermines decades of scientific research on the cause and effect of the current crisis.
At the same time this bill was in the works, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its latest report. The top line findings confirm that human activities, primarily through greenhouse gas emissions, have "unequivocally caused global warming" and that global emissions have continued to increase from "unsustainable energy use, land use, lifestyles, and patterns of consumption" throughout the world. Even in the unlikely event that every country met its current goals, it might not be enough to keep global warming below the critical 1.5C threshold. In the meantime, we will continue to see unprecedented weather incidents, public health effects, economic instability, and ecosystem disruption.
Senate Bill 83 is currently under consideration in the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee. Tell Ohio legislators that there aren't two sides to climate change.
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