Science textbook gets science right!!!

Last summer my son was required to read "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton in preparation for his Geosciences class that all high school seniors are required to take at his school (it's a school that specializes in science and technology).  That made me nervous, knowing that "State of Fear" has been widely debunked as a source of useful information on climate science (see my series on State of Fear here).  I was hoping that his teachers were not going to use it as some sort of instructional material on climate change.

I was immensely relieved, though, when I read the very first sentence in his textbook:

Earth is currently being altered at an unprecedented rate by human activity.  The buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has already warmed Earth's climate by a small amount, and may warm it significantly in the future unless steps are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally.

 And on the same page it goes on even more directly:

Our world is changing.  In fact, Earth as always been changing and will continue to do so for ages to come.  Yet, there is a difference between the changes occurring now and those that occurred previously.  Earth is changing faster today than it has throughout most of its 4.6 billion year history.  Indeed, it may be changing faster than it ever has, except perhaps in the aftermath of giant meteorite impacts.  The cause of this accelerated pace of change is simple: human activity.  Human populations have expanded in numbers and in their technological abilities to the point at which we are now exerting a significant influence on our planet.

 Wow!  That is some really straight talk.  I live in Virginia, where our Attorney General has been attacking climate scientists like Michael Mann.  I wonder if he knows that we are teaching our students such heretical thoughts!
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(the textbook is The Earth System, 3rd ed., by Lee R. Kump, James F. Kasting and Robert G. Crane)