Howdy from the staff at Chabot Space & Science Center in the Oakland Hills! Chabot works to encourage students to actively address climate issues within the Bay Area community. We’ll be dropping by ACE occasionally to share some interesting facts, zany stories, and conversations regarding climate change and how it all relates to you!

What’s up ACErs! I’m Jonathan Braidman; teacher, bicyclist, and – yep! Videogamer. I’m writing to talk to you about controversy, and how it’s affected me in my job to educate young people. Young people like… well, you!

As an educator for close to ten years now, I’ve had to deal with a lot of uncomfortable situations. I taught sex education to groups of teenagers who probably knew more about it than I did. And I had to contain arguments which almost came to blows around evolution. As any teacher will tell you, besides grading homework, nothing is worse than trying to teach: 1.) Sex Ed; 2.) Evolution. They’re controversial, and they tap into religious, cultural, and emotional undercurrents.

But teaching that stuff can also be the most rewarding. Anytime a subject makes a connection, even in a negative way, we’re already halfway to real learning. Which brings us to one of my favorite topics – climate change.

I taught Environmental science for two years at the high school level, and never had any issues with students or parents. But this was before 2005 (and before you were in high school – now I feel a little old…), before the Kyoto protocol, the recession, and hurricane Katrina. We were more concerned with terrorist attacks following 9/11 than global warming. When I had students calculate their carbon footprint, it was more about saving money than saving the planet.

And then recently, I got a job at Chabot Space and Science Center. It’s pretty much the coolest thing I’ve ever done. For proof, check out this picture of me with Bill Nye:

Yep – the coolest.

I’m teaching astronomy and environmental science classes here at Chabot, and every day I have students with their parents (as chaperones) in my class. So when I mention human-induced climate change, I can watch the faces of both the kids AND their parents.

What I see is frowns and dirty looks more often than I’d expected—from the parents.

Now, granted, I don’t think this is the parents’ fault. Anyone who follows the news media in this country might have no idea what to think. Various media outlets portray human-induced climate change as a debate. Whether you watch Fox News or NBC or Comedy Central to get your information depends more on what your parents watched, where you live, and how old you are than anything else. And you can’t really control what your parents watched, where you live, and how old you are. And Fox News, NBC, and Comedy Central are all going to tell you something different. A recent article (http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/16/nation/la-na-climate-change-school-20120116) indicates this is having an effect in science classrooms all over the country.

I initially dealt with the skepticism I encountered by “soft-peddling.” I would just lighten my language when talking about climate change. After all, some of these parents pay good money and take time off work to come to Chabot with their kids! We want them to enjoy the experience, and not be put off. We want to lend credo to the views of everyone who comes to visit us.

But then I realized – that’s not fair. It’s not fair to science and the 97 – 98% of scientists’ papers that support human-induced climate change. It’s not fair to the parents who brought their kids to Chabot to learn about what’s really happening in the world around them. And lastly, it’s not fair to the future these kids (kids like you!) have to look forward to. So I actually “hard-peddle” climate change now. I look those parents right in the eye and I say, “Yes, this is happening. What will you do about it?”

And I encourage everyone to do the same. Unfortunately right now, we still need to convince the folks who aren’t ready to believe that the world is changing, and that we must act. The only way we can turn the tide in this cultural battle is by being every bit as sure of ourselves as those who argue against us. And it should be easier! After all, the facts are on our side.

I am standing up for climate change and Planet Earth – will you join me?