Trends in 20-Years of Anti-Climate Change and Anti-Evolution Education Legislation in the United States

Two fundamental concepts in science, biological evolution and the science of climate change, are among the most challenged scientific concepts in the U.S. education system. Both evolution and climate change have broad scientific consensus (Cook et al., 2013; Wiles, 2010) and are supported by extensive empirical evidence. Nevertheless, American public views trail scientific ones when it comes to support. Public views on evolution are strongly linked to religion; similarly, public views on climate change are strongly associated with political party or ideology (Pew Research Center, 2009, 2015). An anti-science movement, or organized movement against a particular scientific idea, emerged in the early twentieth century to oppose the teaching of evolution theory in K-12 public education. Later, an anti-climate movement developed in the 1990s-2000s to oppose the teaching of anthropogenic climate science. An analysis of 20 years (2003-2023) of state legislation reveals shared tactics between the two movements such as the use of balanced treatment bills, bills to rebrand content, academic free bills, anti-indoctrination bills, instructional material bills, and avoidance bills. Anti-evolution supporters also employed additional strategies such as censorship and the use of textbook disclaimers. Tactics employed by the anti-evolution and anti-climate change movements are often shared, copied by multiple states, and repeated over time. Evolution and climate change science are both fundamental to K-12 environmental education and science literacy targets, and yet this policy analysis reveals efforts to teach these concepts are consistently being undermined by state legislatures in particular states. Recommendations to address these barriers for climate and evolution literacy are considered.