As both a Christian and a thinking human, I beg of all public school systems that they show this video to all students of an appropriate age and teach students how to think critically about it. I think they'll find that it is a solid case for global warming that is inconsequential to one's religious beliefs.

I see no way that it is propagandist, nor do I see how believing in the scientific truth of global warming is mutually exclusive to Christian faith, even an extremely conservative (and from what this guy is saying, fundamentalist) one.

Unfortunately this sounds like yet another person who has confused his faith with politics and nationalism.

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In a world where global warming is such a politically charged and devisive subject, it seems foolish to me to perpetuate those politics in school. In a classroom, you are going to have children whose parents are staunch democrats and staunch republicans. Each have their own opinions about global warming, be they right, wrong, or somewhere in the middle.

There are plenty of ways to teach about conservation, climate change, and the human impact on our environment without bringing a man who is first and foremost a politician, into the discussion.

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There is a difference between global warming and MAN-MADE global warming. Of course the Earth is getting warming; we're coming out of a mini ice-age that lasted for nearly 600 years. That's a proven scientific fact. However, there is a crowd of scientists and laymen that believe this warming is being exacerbated by human events (ie, automobiles, industry, the like). This has not been conclusively proven, as it is nearly impossible to find an objective research crew. Environmental groups fund research that 'proves' man-made global warming is threatening us all, and heavy industry funds research that 'proves' it's all bunk science. This is something the highly interests me, because I wanted to pursue a career in oceanography, but I have yet to find a university that doesn't teach a left-slanted 'the Earth is Boiling Hot!' agenda. While I'm not going to waste an excessive amount of space here, I will say that there is still an active debate going on, but only the groups that have money get their voices heard loudest. That includes Al Gore.

His 'documentary' is based on fear tactics and bunk science, with a smidgen of truth thrown in (appropriately distorted to match his viewpoint). Gore made the movie not just to force his opinions on us, but to make money. It's hard to be objective around the smell of cash.

Just because a movie has been nominated for an Oscar doesn't make it a classroom-worthy addition. It's not like the documentary field was rife with other choices in any case. Let's stick with National Geographic, and leave failed politicians out of our schools.

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The Earth has been going through cycles of warming and cooling since its birth. Scientist agree that the Earth is in a warming trend, but they do not agree on whether or not the warming trend is man-made. I would only support the Al Gore documentary in my son's school if the counter position was presented as well (preferably by a real scientist).

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As someone having relations with this school district, I believe the controversy has been blown way out of proportion. The teacher should have asked permission, and honestly probably did but has nothing to verify it because they have such a stict video poicy. She was probably trying to educate her students about global warming.

Another community member has done a public viewing of the video for parents. They had a very positive turnout and postive review of the video. This was put on the local news.

Teachers would not show things that they thought were controversial because they know how it will blow up nationally. For goodness sakes, my school district, a different one south of Seattle, has gone national because they did not allow tag at recess.

This debate started because someone had very different thoughts about the video. Because of the nature of public education, everyone has beliefs that is should run only their way. I believe Ms. Walls was using her best judgement as an educator and deserves this to not harm the respect that she has gained by being a wonderful teacher for Federal Way.

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I am simply astounded that folks still have no clue about science (like Anna V.). Wow. It illustrated the point of why the US is falling behind in innovation - our citizens are scientifically illiterate, and that is not a good thing.

If "Frosty" and some of the other commentators wish remain ignorant, that is their right. But maybe it isn't okay to foist ignorance on the rest of the population, and especially to propagate it but trying to obscure the truth. As a scientist, I can tell you, all scientists (real ones) agree that yes, we are screwing the Earth over, ripping her a new one actually, and in the process hurting us.

And Katie is right, the whole business has been blown out of proportion. I hope that this serves a purpose and allows us to have an illuminating dialogue with the rest of the world about finding a solution.

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I can't believe what I'm reading from some of these commenters. Is global warming really considered to be a divisive topic? Who, exactly, is debating it? NOT the scientific community, that's for sure. Not every other country in the world. Not universities and climate change researchers. Perhaps some politicians (with deep ties to the non-renewable energy community) have managed to turn this into a religious debate, but do people really buy that? It is a fact that the polar ice cap is disappearing (ask our Alaskan friends...and polar bears for that matter!). It is a fact that many island nations are "sinking" as the sea level rises. Visit the Florida Keys and you'll see that the landscape is not what it was even 20 years ago. Wake up.

Shame on that school board for bending on this. Where does it end? Is Darwin out of bounds because his teachings are at odds with the Adam and Eve story? Are kids going be taught that dinosaurs weren't actually living millions of years ago simply because Bible literalists can't accept carbon dating and still believe that there was no life on Earth prior to 11,000 years ago? It's ludicrous.

Bravo to that teacher for exposing her pupils to this movie. Critical thinking is PATRIOTIC. Drinking the Kool-Aid isn't!

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This is not a political issue, it's a scientific one, and I think it's EXACTLY what should be discussed in schools.

Chris, thank you for being a voice of reason here. Are we upset because this is an upsetting topic? Or because this might fly in the face of certain religious dogma?

You know it's funny, when "The Day After" came out in the early 80s, it was required watching by schoolkids and that was absolutely terrifying. It also happened to support Reagan's cold war era foreign policy. Coincidence?

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It's absurd to talk about "propaganda" when you believe the nation you're living in (whatever nation that may be) is the "greatest to have ever existed".

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Wow. I am scared for that child. I don't understand these types of virulent attacks on schools and teachers. There are plenty of things in this world that parents don't agree with. Part of being a parent is discussing those things with one's child. It's a poor belief system that is so weak it cannot stand in the face of another point of view. Besides, if Judgment Day is coming, then it shouldn't matter to him whether the film is shown to his children or not, since the world will be ending shortly in any event.

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Yes, almost to a person, the scientific community is in agreement about global warming. And, yes, the movie should be shown in schools throughout the country. But, and I'm really sorry about this, the fact is that there are enough people, including our very own president, who disagree with the conclusions that there really is no choice but to send home permission slips before you show it.

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Thank you Chris for your voice of reason. I find it almost funny how so many people hate movies/studies/etc. that tell them they need to change something in their lives. Heaven forbid we should be told to drive less, recycle more, turn off the lights, and a dozen other things. Come on people. This is our world, let's take better care of it.

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I agree that there could be no question in the teacher's mind that this is a controversial subject and that the film seen by many as political propoganda. However, I don't think it needed to be banned from the school. Instead, parents should have been informed in advance. If they didn't want their kids blindly believing it, parents should have told their kids that the film was based on the views of a former liberal/democratic presidential candidate, and in their opinion, its content is slanted, so they should watch it with a critical eye.

Frankly, that's how we should watch much of what we see - it seems there are two sides to every "scientific" issue and even if all agree on certain basics, some folks will distort those basic facts to push their agenda. Youngsters can and should understand this.

Kids should be taught to apply skepticism to every source of "facts," especially the daily news, but even science textbooks, which keep changing over time.

Global warming is only the latest in a series of politically / religiously charged "science" topics in the schools. The debate over evolution versus creationism, or whatever it's called now, is still not over. (I took a whole course in this in high school and believe me, it is not a lame debate, and I think schools should acknowledge the existence of both theories as well as the controversy, even if they ultimately conclude that most folks believe A or B. I don't see how acknowledging the controversy is going to make our kids dumber. But that's another story.)

The truth is, as any responsible scientist will agree, what we "know" is just the tip of the iceberg, so it is ignorant to teach kids that their teachers or science books are the final word on just about anything. What kids need to learn is basic concepts, the scientific method, logic . . . basically, how to read, think, theorize, test, and apply knowledge, not how to place limits on what's "fact" and what's not.

In today's word where the media rules, a little skepticism in our kids would go a long way.

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There is a good article on the opposite point of view that is relatively easy to understand. I am not saying this is the proper point of view (I am still trying to absorb the research on both sides), but that there are many scientists who do not support the man-made global warming position.

Another observation... many people have personally attacked those who express opinions contrary to man-made global warming, but these posters have not offered any resource material - only (potentially)hurtful comments.

www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse

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Regarding the global warming issue itself, I do agree that our behavior is a factor and we should all reduce our use of energy that creates "greenhouse gases." However, I think it's ignorant to say our behavior is immoral compared to India and China.

First, having been to both of those countries and known many people born there, I can say the populations of both countries would love to be able to afford to emit more greenhouse gases than we do. They are just too impoverished to do it. But China is forging ahead and I believe they will surpass our emissions soon. India may be farther behind but the minute they have an industrial boom, watch out. The global warming treaties want to give them a pass on emissions to let them develop faster, so they don't have much incentive to do otherwise.

Second, the developing world has benefited greatly from the fact that the Western world (mainly the US) has pioneered lots of technology replacing former pollutants with cleaner alternatives. If we had not first had the less-environmentally-friendly industry in our economy, there would be R&D for the cleaner, more affordable technology that is now used by the less industrial / less innovative countries. We ought to get some credit for that.

Third, we benefit the less-industrialized countries by supplying stuff that they would not be able to obtain affordably on their own soil. That accounts for some of the energy and agricultural land used here, that they don't have to use there. We ought to get some credit for that.

Fourth, it is not fair to compare a large, cold country like the US to warm country like India when it comes to emissions. Where I live, I have no choice but to run my heater most of the year, and if I don't run lights I'll have to go to sleep at 5:30pm and get up at 7:30am in the winter. I need a car or plane to go anywhere because we are so spread out. That's just the geographic reality of this country, so there's no point dinging us for that.

The US is an easy target because we do happen to be such a strong industrial power. However, slamming one party, industry, country, whatever is not going to fix the problem - it just turns makes the other side defensive. The best thing we can do is responsibly choose and use what we buy, from consumer products to services to investments. If every enlightened American seriously tried to do this instead of pointing the finger at everyone else, this could actually make a difference. Unfortunately, I find a lot of hipocrasy preventing that result.

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Typo: under my "second" point above, I meant to say "there would be FAR LESS R&D . . ."

Sorry . . . it does distort the meaning . . . .

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Wow. Um...there are STILL people who haven't come out from under their rock to see that our climate is changing more rapidly than is normal and natural? And there are still people who think this is a political issue? Global warming isn't going to stop happening just because Republicans are choosing to ignore reality. Apparently more people need to see this movie, in schools and elsewhere.

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I wouldn't want to see it in school, just because I tend to get a little freaked out when people talk about global warming. If I want to watch it, I'll watch it in my own time thankyouverymuch.

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I don't like the idea of banning anything (books films, specific subjects) in school because they are controversial. On this message board we see people expressing opposite viewpoints all the time. Most of the time it's polite, well-thought out debate. Debate is a skill that can be taught in schools, especially with teachers moderating so that the discussion doesn't get personal or insulting.

Were the students to all watch this movie (or anything else controversial for that matter) and be led in a discussion afterwards about what they agreed or disagreed with, it would be a wonderful learning experience. If you disagree with the film, go ahead and tell your kids why. That's your right as a parent. But sheltering them from anything controversial will not help them as much as talking together about what your family believes and why so that they learn how to defend their own beliefs as they grow.

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Pretty much just a big "AMEN!" and "ditto" to everything Nicole said in the first comment.

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