Unbearable heat
Charles DeVere Cook’s recent thoughtful letter to the editor [Sept. 23] requires a response. Although Cook acknowledges anthropogenic climate change, his position on climate economics is flawed and would discourage desperately needed mitigation. Cook says “significant efforts to address climate change will break the bank as we know it.” In reality, the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40%, contains more revenue than new spending and is expected to reduce the deficit.
From a global perspective, extensive, peer-reviewed research by renowned economists, such as Nicholas Stern and William Nordhaus, has concluded that mitigating climate breakdown costs less than mitigating it. suffer the consequences. To illustrate, NOAA reports that since 1980, billion dollar weather/climate disasters have cost the United States $53 billion a year. By comparison, the IRA’s climate spending is expected to cost just $37 billion a year.
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Shedding light on the climate crisis, Cook recalls that without air conditioning, previous generations “survived”. In fact, research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020) predicts that if emissions are not reduced, by 2070 an estimated 3.5 billion people (one-third of the world’s population) will exist in regions where the heat is unlivable – threatening human civilization. . Thus, intense climate action is mandatory, and the cost will be less than that of a climate catastrophe.
Back to basics
Our schools in Texas must bring back the three “Cs” – critical thinking, civics and cognition. We need to end the “teaching on trial” criteria that so many districts are forced to meet just to maintain a decent grade. Testing should be used as a tool to determine a student’s progress and abilities, not as a punitive measure for teachers and schools.
We need our children and grandchildren to be prepared to compete in a job market that is becoming increasingly automated and requires higher level critical thinking skills. We must support the teaching profession as the cornerstone of the future that it is.
To do this, we must make funding for our public schools a priority at the state level. Texas kids deserve nothing less than a top-notch education and vouchers for the rich won’t get us there.
Sandra Blankenship, Killeen
BU late
In June, I attended a week-long seminar on the Constitution with about 15 other teachers. The seminar was sponsored by the Department of Political Science at Baylor University, and we were each promised a $400 stipend to attend. Although the information provided was interesting and useful, the allocation was a decisive factor for my participation. Now, four months later, I still haven’t received my allowance.
I am writing this letter for two purposes. First, I would caution fellow teachers to carefully consider whether to attend future Baylor seminars; make sure that you will benefit from the training alone and make your decision without taking into account the promised payments. Second, if Baylor is truly “where the lights shine,” perhaps this letter will encourage someone to shine internally to investigate the lack of integrity in delivering on promises made to local teachers.
