When the new Congress convenes in January, 2011, it will get hotter in the House & Senate with an influx of Representatives and Senators (all Republicans) who continue the conspiracy that global warming is a hoax, and that humans are not contributing to the warming of the Earth.  This group of elected officials (especially in the House) will try and block any attempts at government projects and laws aimed at regulating carbon emissions, and other factors that are causing the earth to get hotter.

If you are teaching science, especially courses dealing with the environment, earth science, science teacher education, science-related social issues, then you will have an opportunity to involve your students in not only the scientific exploration of climate change, but how politics and “fossil-funded” organizations can influence public perception of scientific facts, and prevent the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and deflect any attempt at developing a national strategy of offset the effects of global warming.

On the website of the Center for American Progress, the authors give us a glimpse of the climate change that will blow into Washington, D.C.:

In January, 2011, the 112th Congress will open session, with a huge contingent of Republicans who have explicitly rejected the threat of manmade global warming pollution. These climate zombies express the classic variants of global warming denial: that the planet is not warming, that cold weather refutes concerns about global warming, that man’s influence is unclear, that climate scientists are engaged in a hoax, scam, or corrupt conspiracy, and that limiting greenhouse pollution would have no impact on global temperatures. Of special note are the conspiracy theorists who argue that hacked emails from climate scientists prove corruption, calling for kangaroo trials against practicing researchers.

If you click on the map shown below, it will bring to the “active” website where you can click on any state and find out how Congressional members think about climate change and global warming.

Click on the map which will take you to the map where you can investigate the climate change and global warming opinions of members of Congress

An interesting activity would be to have students find out what representatives from their state think about climate change, and why.  How do these representatives explain the facts of temperature change, glacial melting, the rise of sea level, and the changes that occurring to biological systems around the earth.