To the Editor:

The Board of Education Directors at Federal Way Public Schools has restricted showings of Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth," the premiere factual film on global warming, and one that will probably be nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary.

In the film, Gore presents scientists' findings on the catastrophic dangers of climate change. The Federal Way school board now requires Superintendent Tom Murphy to approve when the former vice president's film can be presented and that it must be balanced with an adequate opposing viewpoint.

What opposing view?

There is no opposing view to science, which is based on facts. The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable that global warming is real, is already happening and is the result of human activities and not a natural occurrence.

A vast majority of scientists agree with these facts.

Federal researchers with the National Academy of Sciences have said the planet's temperature has climbed to levels not seen in thousands of years, and has begun to affect plants and animals. And according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this era of global warming "is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin" and "the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence of the global climate."

Gore's documentary is a film based on these scientific facts and approved by most climate scientists.

According to a June 2006 Associated Press story, the nation's top climate scientists gave the documentary "five stars for accuracy."

AP said that all the climate scientists they contacted, who had seen the movie or read the book, agreed that the former vice president "mostly got the science right."

Although none of the school board members had seen the documentary, three of the five elected board members voted for the requirements, including Board President Ed Barney, Dave Larson and Charlie Hoff.

According to the Associated Press, the board president received about a half dozen complaints from parents concerned about the film saying their kids were taking the film as fact, and Larson said, "We have to ensure that our schools are not being used to politically indoctrinate anyone."

The documentary is provided free of charge to teachers and schools to educate students about the possible dangers of global warming and climate change. It is based on scientific facts and evidence, like all the other films and DVDs shown in the classroom.

Some scientists do say that some of the facts in the film are somewhat exaggerated, but even if this is the case, the outcome is nothing but positive.

It may teach America's youth the importance of protecting the planet. There is no political agenda, unless you don't want children to learn how they can help save the Earth for future generations.

Frosty Hardison, a Federal Way parent of seven children, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher. The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD."

How much proof is required and how many noted scientists are needed, before people begin believing that global warming is real, that we are in a climate change crises, and that catastrophic events will take place unless we take action now?

When Biblical leaders walked on the Earth, they also had a hard time convincing the majority.

Yet today, without much scientific proof, many people believe in Bible events as fact. We need to have more faith in our scientists, and heed their warnings concerning global warming and climate change. While the world itself will not end, the world as we know it may disappear.

In the documentary, Gore calmly shows us evidence that the ice caps are melting, the ocean levels are rising, the weather is going crazy and -- if we don't act -- we're staring at a future of hurricanes, floods, droughts, insect plagues, epidemics and social, political and economic chaos.

If this concerns you, and it should, you need to start taking action now. The first thing you can do is tell the Federal Way school board how you feel about their restriction of "An Inconvenient Truth."

You can write or visit the Federal Way Public Schools administration offices at 31405 - 18th Ave. S., Federal Way, WA, 98003.

You can also phone the school district at (253)-945-2000 or send emails to schoolboard@fwps.org, ed-barney@fwps.org, Dave-Larson@fwps.org and Charles-Hoff@fwps.org.

Bill Johson-Miles

via email