Educator's book addresses global warming myths for families

For the past decade, Holly Fretwell has been conducting her own research on the science behind so-called "global warming." She claims she found a lack of consensus among scientists as to whether global warming exists, and as to whether humans contribute to the supposed threat.

Despite the lack of consensus, Fretwell says public schools and the media are trying to scare children into thinking that the threat is real. She cites one television program that told children their parents are to blame for global warming and that civilization, as we know it, could end as a result.

The educator says that type of alarmist mentality is what drove her to write the book entitled The Sky Is Not Falling.

"And it really shows them [that] here is some of the information we're provided out there in our popular press, in our media, [on the] Internet and other things we see, [and asks them] how much of that can you believe," the author says. The book compares that information with "what's really happening out there," she explains, and encourages readers to examine the whole picture. " And I try to teach kids how to do just that," she adds.

Fretwell argues that scientists find it difficult to predict how the climate may change simply because of the numerous factors and variables that interact together. "We have a hard time predicting the weather for the next couple of days," she notes, "[so] imagine trying to predict the climate over the next 100 years. It's just a really uncertain science."

The Montana State University professor says her book is a useful tool for anyone who wants to become a critical thinker in the debate surrounding the topic of global warming.