The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has released a report on problems with the proposed content in textbooks in, where else, Texas.
The textbooks included sections which had been rewritten to better fall in line with the Koch-funded Heartland Institute’s stance on climate change, rejecting recognized scientific facts, according to The Guardian.
“Scientists agree that the Earth’s climate is changing,” read a passage in a sixth grade textbook published by McGraw-Hill Education. “They do not agree on what is causing the change … Scientists who study the issue say it is impossible to tell if the recent small warming trend is natural … or unnatural, the result of human greenhouse gas emissions.”
“This entire section is misleading,” said the NCSE in its report. “Scientists do not disagree about what is causing climate change; the vast majority (97%) of climate papers and actively publishing climatologists (again 97%) agree that human activity is responsible.”
Another problem came in a fifth grade textbook published by Pearson which said,
“Burning oil to run cars also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Some scientists believe that this carbon dioxide could lead to a slow heating of Earth’s overall climate. This temperature change is known as global warming or climate change. Scientists disagree about what is causing climate change. Many people, however, worry that climate change might cause environmental problems, such as increased storm activity and rising sea levels.”
The NCSE again pointed out that “Scientists do not disagree about what is causing climate change, as mentioned earlier.”
In addition to the lie that scientists disagree about the cause of climate change, the proposed rewrites also included lies about scientists predicting a cooling trend.
“Scientists believe the Earth is absorbing more of the sun’s harmful rays … Some scientists say it is natural for the Earth’s temperature to be higher for a few years. They predict we’ll have some cooler years and things will even out.”
The NCSE responded, “We are not aware of any current publishing climatologists who are predicting a cooling trend where ‘things will even out.’ We wonder what the source of this information was.”
The Koch brothers will stop at nothing to further push their anti-climate change agenda, even going so far as to outright lie to children. People believing in climate change and demanding solutions puts a dent in the profits they make from big oil. Indoctrinating children with false data and fake facts starting in elementary school ensures uneducated voters for the future, which is what the Koch brothers need to keep their GOP lapdogs in power.