Of education and environment

Two recent commentaries in The New York Times caught our eye -- one dealing with early childhood education and income equality, and another with environment, both issues for progressives to capture.

Columnist David Brooks wrote this week about investing more money in early childhood education. (While NYT columnists aren't available except for paying customers, you can find the column on other newspaper op-ed pages, such as this one here.)

Brooks says you can ignore the rising gap in income between rich and poor for awhile, but like global warming, you eventually have to concede it exists. The root cause, he suggests, to the problem is connected to human capital, which forces you to think about job training and schools:

"Earlier [learning] is better....Children who've developed good brain functions by age 3 have advantages that accumulate through life....If we want young people to develop the social and self-regulating skills they need to thrive, we need to establish long-term relationships between love-hungry children and love-providing adults."

In a separate Friday column, columnist Paul Krugman takes a look at former VP Al Gore's new film and challenge to the nation to confront global warming.

Krugman (column found here) highlights how big oil companies and some conservative interests are embroiled in a disinformation campaign to spin people into believing global warming doesn't exist, which Gore says is one of the reasons it's hard to get action on the issue. But a scientist cited by the campaign says it is using the information to confuse and mislead people.

More interestingly, Krugman offers this insight about how the issue of global warming is a test of our national character:

"Since 2000, we've seen what happens when people who aren't interested in the facts, who believe what they want to believe, sit in the White House. Osama bin Laden is still at large, Iraq is a mess, New Orleans is a wreck. And, of course, we've done nothing about global warming.

"But can the sort of person who would act on global warming get elected? Are we — by which I mean both the public and the press — ready for political leaders who don't pander, who are willing to talk about complicated issues and call for responsible policies? That's a test of national character. I wonder whether we'll pass."