Twenty-five thousand science teachers opened their mailboxes this month and found a package from the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank that rejects the scientific consensus on climate change.
It contained the organization’s book “Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming,” as well as a DVD rejecting the human role in climate change and arguing instead that rising temperatures have been caused primarily by natural phenomena. The material will be sent to an additional 25,000 teachers every two weeks until every public-school science teacher in the nation has a copy, Heartland president and CEO Joseph Bast said in an interview last week. If so, the campaign would reach more than 200,000 K-12 science teachers.
Accompanying the materials is a cover letter from Lennie Jarratt, project manager of Heartland’s Center for Transforming Education. He asks teachers to “consider the possibility” that the science is not settled. “If that’s the case, then students would be better served by letting them know a vibrant debate is taking place among scientists,” he writes. The letter also points teachers to an online guide to using the DVD in their classrooms.
I would bet my house that this group is heavily funded by folks with ties to the fossil fuel industry.
That is one front on this war on science, convincing educators to question the facts.
This is yet another front.
Courtesy of WaPo:
Prominent scientists operating outside the scientific consensus on climate change urged Congress on Wednesday to fund “red teams” to investigate “natural” causes of global warming and challenge the findings of the United Nations’ climate science panel.
The suggestion for a counter-investigative science force — or red team approach — was presented in prepared testimony by scientists known for questioning the influence of human activity on global warming. It comes at a time when President Trump and other members of the administration have expressed doubt about the accepted science of climate change, and are considering drastic cuts to federal funding for scientific research.
A main mission of red teams would be to challenge the scientific consensus on climate change, including the work of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose reports are widely considered the authority on climate science.
So convince public school teachers to question science, while attempting to obfuscate the facts at their source.
And all of this while Donald Trump guts the EPA.
They are not even trying to cover up their agenda for destroying this planet are they?
I guess it is up to us to expose all of this as often as possible and to elect politicians who understand science and will work to preserve this planet for our children, and our children's children.
Remember, all we have to lose is the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, and the planet on which we make our homes.
As I watch the climate change deniers spin themselves into an early grave I'm reminded of a quote: "We do it to ourselves". When the super tornados come barreling across the plain, when the melted ice water levels flood the Gulf of Mexico delta, when the wild fires decimate the plains I will know we've done this to ourselves.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't happen to a better group of people.
How can you deny something that's right before your eyes? Yeah, there's no such thing as global warming because it's snowing outside. Eye roll.
ReplyDeleteUsually Denver freezes in the spring due to a mass of cold air from the Arctic. With the permafrost melting that is no longer guaranteed. But yeah, it's snowing so change isn't a real thing. Second your eye roll.
DeleteAll actions, executive orders, dismantling of agencies must stop and pause today until mr don john trump is fully investigated along with his corrupt staff of criminals. It has taken years and years to clean up the environment of many years of abuse and neglect. We the American people can not allow a backwards position or the destruction of our water supply, our soil, our air, our oceans and waterways. We must fight this now and stop this now and protest this now. This is the time to scream and protest as loud and clear as possibly possible. Time for Action.
ReplyDelete"I haven't been in a science class in a long time....." Obviously not.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/3/30/1648813/-Look-no-further-NY-Republican-comes-up-with-the-single-dumbest-theory-for-climate-change
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/trump-is-in-for-a-long-fight-on-climate-science-rules/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/04/01/watch_trump_leave_executive_order_signing_ceremony_without_signing_anything.html
ReplyDelete"You're going to be seeing some very, very strong results very, very quickly. Thank you very much."
"The commander in chief immediately sought out the door, and seemingly couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. Never mind that he hadn’t actually signed anything. "
Wtf?^
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/schooled/2017/03/betsy_devos_thinks_schools_could_not_get_much_worse.html
ReplyDeleteReal Science:"grim news: “The rising death rates for young white adults make them the first generation since the Vietnam War years of the mid-1960s to experience higher death rates in early adulthood than the generation that preceded it.” "
ReplyDelete"United States, which contains 5 percent of the world’s population, uses 80 percent of the world’s painkillers."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/01/the-doctors-who-started-the-opioid-epidemic.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/01/america-s-cult-of-ignorance.html
I absolutely believe that humans are largely responsible for the increasingly rapid and drastic changes in our climate because I'm educated and intelligent. I also trust that thousands of people who spend their lives studying science, and agree with each other regarding this topic, actually know what they're talking about.
ReplyDeleteHowever, putting the causes aside, nearly everyone agrees that there IS some change, and it's not beneficial unless you're planning to start a citrus grove in Vermont. Doesn't it therefore make sense to try and do something to slow down the process and work on finding alternative sources of energy?
It's kind of like saying you're not going to put out a house fire because the fire chief doesn't know if it started with an electrical short or a burning candle. Either way, PUT THE DAMN FIRE OUT!!!
Leaked draft of Donald Trump's plan for environmental agency shows even deeper cuts
ReplyDeleteAgency will now only focus on 'core legal requirements' and cut out all voluntary activities surrounding scientific research, climate change and education
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a new, more detailed plan for laying off 25 per cent of its employees and scrapping more than 50 programmes including pesticide safety, water runoff control, and environmental cooperation with Mexico and Canada under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
At a time when the agency is considering a controversial rollback in fuel efficiency standards adopted under President Barack Obama, the plan would cut by more than half the number of people in EPA's division for testing the accuracy of fuel efficiency claims by automakers.
It would transfer funding for the program to fees paid by the car makers themselves.
The spending plan, obtained by The Washington Post, offers the most detailed vision to date of how the 31 percent budget cut to the EPA ordered up by President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget would diminish the agency.
The 21 March plan calls for even deeper reductions in staffing than earlier drafts. It maintains funding given to states to administer waste treatment and drinking water. But as a result, the budget for the rest of EPA is slashed 43 percent.
The Trump administration says the EPA cuts reflect a philosophy of limiting federal government and devolving authority to the states, localities and, in some cases, corporations. But environmental groups say the Trump administration is answering the call of companies seeking lax regulation and endangering Americans' air and water.
In a memorandum at the front of the 21 March document, the EPA's acting chief financial officer, David A. Bloom, said the agency would now "centre on our core legal requirements," eliminating voluntary activities on scientific research, climate change and education, and leaving other activities to state and local governments.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-epa-cuts-climate-change-environmental-protections-worse-a7661661.html
So much for job creation.
DeleteSounds like Trump is killing more jobs than he thinks he's going to create.
He's killing tourism too.
This is not the first time that Heartland Institute has littered the mailboxes of public school teachers with their big-oil sponsored propaganda to instill doubt regarding man's contribution to climate change. If I recall, a similar effort made approximately three years ago was sent to all the public and private school teachers as well as the leaders in home-school networks as a supplement to their "Christian-focused study guides and text books". I've never been so glad to see "educational" material forwarded directly to the trash can by public- and private-school educational professionals who were able to smell the stench of this ruse after simply researching the lists of financial supporters/contributors to Heartland. It's no surprise that Koch Industries as well as ExxonMobil are large contributors to this non-academic crap. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteThe West Will Pursue Clean Energy Despite Trump's Assault on Climate Science
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsweek.com/west-pursue-clean-energy-despite-trump-assault-climate-science-576225?piano_t=1
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/why-russia-gave-up-alaska-americas-gateway-to-the-arctic/
ReplyDeleteThe DVDs will be tossed and the books go directly into the recycling bin.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how other states work but in mine if it's not on the textbook list, it doesn't get used. You also need district permission to show the video and it must support the curriculum and common core.
So they pretty much wasted a lot of paper and postage. But thanks for putting those donations back into the economy.
As a school librarian we would occasionally get crap like this. Usually Scientology. It was all tossed.