I OPEN TODAY WITH A DAILY KOS BULLETIN trumpeting the courageous stand just taken by the Oklahoma legislature, which by a vote of 10 to 1 moved to block acceptance of proposed statewide science standards. It was very clear that the issue of climate change content was the critical reason for the action. The Oklahoma schools’ science standards were, in significant part, based on the Next Generation Science Standards, which discuss climate change and which were rejected by the state of Wyoming several months earlier.

Climate Progress notes the following regarding legislative hearings on the subject: “Republican lawmaker Mark McCullough criticized the proposed Oklahoma science standards’ references to ‘the climate’ and ‘human impacts on the environment.’ McCullough suggested there has been ‘hyberbole relative to climate change’ and asked if the standards ‘could potentially be utilized to inculcate into some pretty young impressionable minds … a fairly one-sided view as to that controversial subject, a subject that is very much in dispute among even the academics.”

I quote from the Daily Kos piece: “Curiously, only people who are not academics seem to believe the subject is ‘very much in dispute’ among academics — perhaps a side-effect of not knowing what an ‘academic’ is? (Bonus points for using inculcate, though) … Anyway, we mustn’t inculcate impressionable minds by letting them know that they and their children are well and truly screwed and that we did it to them on purpose. As a plus, Oklahoma will likely be among the more uninhabitable states, as the climate warms, so the problem with Oklahoma politics will eventually solve itself.”

A Mother Jones piece by Chris Mooney, “Why Oklahoma Lawmakers Don’t Want Kids to Learn About Climate,” notes the following: “As much as any state in the U.S., Oklahoma is a victim of climate change.

“In 2011, notes the newly released U.S. National Climate Assessment, the state suffered from its hottest summer on record. For Oklahoma and Texas, the related drought, exacerbated by high temperatures, cost $10 billion in agricultural losses. And the report states as plainly as you can that climate change was involved. ‘These recent temperature extremes were attributable in part to human-induced climate change (approximately 20 percent of the heat wave magnitude and a doubling of the chance that it would occur),’ notes the assessment.”

A fascinating footnote to this chapter is the courageous stand of the Colorado and Arizona legislatures in following the Oklahoma lead and enacting an ALEC bill requiring the teaching of climate change denial in schools. Trust faithful old corporate-sponsored ALEC — the American Legislative Exchange Council — with its cookie-cutter corporate-loving agenda to come to the rescue of beleaguered states lacking in scientists, not to mention legislative intelligence and integrity.

A fascinating bit that highlights the Koch brothers’ dedication to finding solutions to our energy problems is noted by Jim Hightower in a May 22 Nation of Change piece, “Koch Brothers Rev Up High-Octane Hypocrisy”:

“Consider this … Suppose you’re a corporate chieftain who’s a free-enterprise fundamentalist, despising government regulation, taxation, and intervention in the purity of the holy marketplace. But — whoopsie daisy — suddenly a new competitor to your old-line product pops up, and more and more of your customers are switching to the alternative.

“This is no hypothetical situation. It’s a real one faced by the Koch brothers, the fossil-fueled duo. They feel threatened by the steady increase in the number of middle-class families installing solar panels on the roofs of their own homes.” (This is not in the least hypothetical to this Benicia family with a roof decorated with those energy collectors!)

“That’s why these old-power behemoths are tossing their libertarian purity overboard and sending their lobbyists across country: to demand that state governments intervene in the marketplace to stop these pesky rooftop competitors from, uh, competing in the energy marketplace.

“Their hypocrisy doesn’t stop there. They also want states to tax solar-powered homeowners to punish them for becoming innovative energy producers with some independence from their local utilities.

“It sure isn’t the American way. But it is a page from the corporate playbook. As the comedian Lily Tomlin says, ‘No matter how cynical you get, it’s almost impossible to keep up.’”

To attempt to allay those pounding pulses and fevered brows, I thought to close this piece with a bit of environmental intelligence and brotherly love, brought in this case by none other than the new Catholic pope! From the May 22 piece “Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case for Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us,’” by Jack Jenkins: 

“A Vatican summit, titled ‘Sustainable Humanity, Sustainable Nature, Our Responsibility,’ drew together microbiologists, legal scholars, economists, philosophers, astronomers, and other experts to discuss ways for the Catholic Church to address a range of issues caused by climate change. In a joint statement after the close of the conference, participants echoed Francis’ belief that environmental justice and economic justice are inextricably linked.

“Human action which is not respectful of nature becomes a boomerang for human beings that creates inequality and extends what Pope Francis has termed ‘the globalization of indifference’ and the ‘economy of exclusion’ (Evangelii Gaudium), which themselves endanger solidarity with present and future generations.

“The pontiff’s catechesis and the Vatican’s summit appear to be part of a renewed effort by the Catholic church to draw attention to environmental issues.”

Truly a major move: The Catholic Church and the scientific world allied in the effort to raise human welfare above profit. Hosannas reverberate from all corners of the globe! And the heavens, too! And place the Koch empire and its “The hell with heat, what’s our quarterly dividend?” refrain in stunning contrast and context.

In closing and in observance of Memorial Day tomorrow, I want to offer a very deeply felt tribute to those brave men with whom I served who did not return with me from Germany in 1945. They remain in my heart and memory.

Jerome Page is a Benicia resident.