Originally Posted by
BronteExperimental
One of my kids is doing HSC. Had an assignment on the origins of the printing press in the 1500s.
the marking rubric explicitly states they have to mention climate change in their responses.
I’m reading over it and basically have to tell her that soot in the atmosphere in the 1500s is not responsible for climate change. By all means talk about health outcomes and the like but not anthropogenic atmospheric warming. They refused to take it out.
Whatever you think about the issue I can tell you first hand that EVERYTHING is taught through this lens these days. So don’t be surprised to see it as a supposed causal factor in an ATSB report at some stage.
Sounds like a poorly worded assignment. The Printing press does have some part to play in kicking off the industrial revolution, by being a means of mass information sharing, a step forward much the same as the internet was. The spread of knowledge led to increasing rate of invention and spread of technologies throughout the world and allowed creations like the power loom and steam engine to be quickly learned and adopted, which in turn led to the industrial revolution. Obviously anything that was involved in the industrial revolution then had significant impact on the increased use of coal and other fossil fuels to feed the factories and consumer demand.
Maybe that's what they were getting at, but its a really tenuous connection. I mean you could ask the same question of how the invention of writing or math led to industry today and its effect on the environment.