The Greening of the Classroom
Kids are learning junk environmentalism in school.
By Michael Chapman
Johnny can’t read, write or do math. They were wrong, of course. But they
But he knows about global warming, IGNORED FACTS helped to set the tone for environ-
acid rain, nuclear power, deforestation, mental education for two decades.
big oil and capitalism. • The world’s population growth
has dropped since the ‘60s. Life Besides their apocalyptic views, the
Johnny knows all this because his expectancy has risen from 47 to standard textbooks place little empha-
teachers have told him so. And they 75 years since 1900. sis on basic economics — prices, scar-
got help from interest groups, the En- city, supply and demand — and how
vironmental Protection Agency and • Many resources and energy prices these factors affect the use of resources
green textbooks that purport to explain have plunged in recent years, and the environment.
these Earth-in-the-balance issues. showing abundance, not scarcity.
If gasoline prices rise, people drive
Problem is, most of the texts are one- • Global warming is a theory. In less. They use substitutes, such as a
sided, say critics. They also fail to ex- fact, most of the temperature rise bicycle, bus or subway. Rising demand
plain basic economics, such as prices, in the last 100 years happened be- and higher prices will generate greater
which affect demand for and supply of fore 1938. supplies.
natural resources and energy.
• The largest study on acid rain, a For instance, between 1950 and 1990,
Many texts have the look of advocacy 10-year, $500 million govern- oil and natural gas reserves rose 733%,
tomes, often ignoring sound science in ment-funded project, found no according to Stephen Moore of the
favour of junk science, the critics say. convincing evidence that acid rain Cato Institute. Furthermore, the real
Socialist solutions to problems are kills forests. average price of natural resources has
favoured over capitalist ones, and new decreased. It’s now about one-eighth
age spirituality is emphasized. • The U.S. is not running out of
of what it was in 1900, said Moore.
landfill space. All the garbage
“With few exceptions, textbook treat- Americans will produce for the Also, no one knows how much oil is in
ment of environmental issues is influ- next 1,000 years would fill a space the earth. Government officials and
enced by an ideological view that pre- 44 miles square and 120 feet deep. private analysts have predicted at vari-
sents human beings as evil and blames ous times that oil would be depleted in
the United States in particular and • Food packaging reduces waste.
1914, 1919, 1926, 1939, 1949, and
Western industrial societies in general For every 1% increase in packag-
1980. President Carter falsely pre-
for every environmental ill,” said Mi- ing, there is a 1.6% decrease in
dicted in 1977 that “we could use up
chael Sanera, head of the Center for food waste.
all proven reserves of oil in the entire
Environmental Education Research. world by the end of the next decade.”
Many analysts agree that public
Sanera and Jane Shaw wrote Facts, schools in general fail to teach kids But this is rarely found in green texts.
Not Fear: A Parent’s Guide to Teach- what they need to know to be edu- “In essence, the environmental educa-
ing Children About the Environment,” cated. Learning about the environment tional campaign is aimed at turning our
based on their review of more than 130 probably is helpful. nation’s schoolchildren into environ-
texts and 170 environmental books for mentalists,” said Jo Kwong, a re-
But critics say mastering the basics
kids in grades K-12. Views similar to searcher at the Atlas Economic Re-
first is most important for kids. And
theirs were expressed by the green search Foundation.
learning about the environment
magazines Garbage and Audubon, the
shouldn’t include a radical green “We are producing a nation of ‘dooms-
magazine of the National Audubon
agenda, bereft of balance and sound day kids’ or ‘eco-kids — children who
Society.
scientific rules. can tell you what is right and wrong
Of course, advocates say the environ-
The question is: How do you best but are woefully ignorant of the rea-
ment is too important to be ignored.
teach kids about the planet? sons why. Environmental education
And they say traditional approaches —
preaches socially or politically correct
a reliance on markets, a focus on the In 1972, a group of global leaders lessons. It is unabashedly devoted to
individual — haven’t worked. Getting called the Club of Rome published The activism and politics, rather than
schoolkids to change their way of Limits to Growth.. They warned that knowledge and understanding.”
thinking is the only way to save the the world would run out of gold in
planet from the wasteful habits of their 1981, mercury in 1985, tin by 1987, (Adapted with permission from Inves-
parents, according to those who push zinc by 1990, oil by 1992, and copper, tors Business Daily)
the green agenda in schools. lead and natural gas by 1993.
Organization for Quality Education, June 1999 Page 8