(Washington, Paris) A textbook sent to schools by a controversial US think tank is riddled with false claims about climate science. According to activists, it is an attempt to “infect” young minds.
Sparking outrage from activists and teachers but hailed by climate skeptics, the Heartland Institute this year sent the book to more than 8,000 American teachers to “present the facts.”
Climate at a glance for teachers and studentsIts content was verified by AFP, following another mass mailing of books in 2017 that sought to cast doubt on the scientific evidence on the crisis threatening the planet.
“It is outrageous that such propaganda is being sent out […] With the aim of impacting children’s minds,” Susan Joy Hasol, director of association climate communications, told AFP.
The book’s 80 pages, based on data, charts and footnotes, cite the usual sources such as government and international agencies, and look like a systematic reference.
But according to scientists who spoke to AFP, the book is riddled with false claims. In particular, it emphasizes increasing levels of CO2 With positive impacts on crops and coral reefs, ice decline is minimal, sea level rise is not accelerating and heat waves are rare.
“We have confidence in our data,” its editor, Sterling Burnett, chief climatologist at the Heartland Institute, assured AFP.
Doubts about links to the fossil industry
The book’s release follows the rise of climate denial in the United States since July 2022, when President Joe Biden won the support needed for a major climate spending bill.
Encouraging Americans to embrace electric cars and renewable energy, Mr. Biden inspires contempt from skeptics who see their way of life and values under threat. Surveys show that many Americans still accept the reality of climate change.
The opacity of funding for Heartland, founded in 1984, leads activists to suspect it is working in the interests of the fossil industry. While he has not disclosed his main financiers, he has already announced in 2012 that he received funding from the charitable arm of oil giant Koch Industries.
The confidentiality of the 8000 people who received the book is also protected. Questioned by AFP, Burnett confirmed he was “not in charge of dispatch” and referred the request to the company’s communications department, which did not respond.
“I would bet that the mailers were strategically distributed in certain constituencies to favor certain politicians who continue to deny or mislead about climate change,” suspects Kate Sell, head of climate campaigning for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“How not to combine data”
The shipment size is smaller than the hundreds of thousands of copies shipped in 2017. Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, sees this as a “tacit acknowledgment” of the ineffectiveness of Hartland’s strategy.
Science teachers are “better prepared to explain climate change and are becoming more wary of climate-sceptic content,” Mr Branch told AFP.
However, reviews on online ordering site Amazon are overwhelmingly positive. “All grandparents should buy one for their grandkids, and all teachers should buy one for their students. The sky isn’t falling on our heads, spread the word!” wrote one reader.
AFP could not confirm that these comments were independent of the company.
Jeffrey Grant, a science teacher in Illinois, told AFP: “It’s very sad. “I plan to use my students’ graphs to show them how not to put data together to support their science demonstrations. »
