02/05/07 Global Warming & More FB Reaction

Global Warming & More FB Reaction. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. A panel of international scientists predicted Friday that global warming will continue for centuries no matter how much people control pollution, in a bleak report that blamed humans for killer heat waves, devastating droughts and stronger storms. The report said people were "very likely" the cause of global warming  the strongest conclusion to date  and placed the burden on governments to take action. The 21-page report said man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are to blame for fewer cold days, hotter nights, heat waves, floods and heavy rains, droughts and stronger storms, particularly in the Atlantic Ocean. The President of the nation's largest farm organization says Farm Bureau will look closely at USDA's Farm Bill proposal. Bob Stallman says Farm Bureau has concerns about changes to the commodity title in USDA's Farm Bill proposal. STALLMAN: One area of concern that it may take a while to analyze are the proposed changes in the commodity title. We have to have a better understanding of what the economic impacts are going to be on individual commodity producers as a result of those proposed changes and we will be looking at that. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. The story of Jack and the Bean stalk could be a metaphor of sorts of what is happening to the high school ag curriculum, except in this story the beanstalk is being cut down before anyone can get the golden egg. I discussed this dilemma with a dedicated Ag instructor who felt that Ag studies are under attack and being diluted into strictly a physical science program. This is being done under the clever guise of "agriculture" so that schools will continue to receive state and federal dollars. This Washington State teacher feared his program will become but a shell of itself because academic rigor and imagination have been sacrificed so that districts can merely teach to test standards. The focus of high school now is to pass the standardized tests irregardless of what skills students might need to make it in the real world. IN the past the Ag curriculum was valued for teaching vocational skills and preparing students for agriculture at the university level. Today we are churning out a world of "jacks" and Jill's so dulled by their high school education that they will spend their lives at the bottom of the bean stalk, looking up, lacking the skills to even make the climb. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.