A Teacher Alert: A Mailing about Climate Change is on the Way to Your Mailbox

Climate Change
Environmental & Science Education
STEM
by Edward Hessler

On March 20 I received a mailing from a colleague about an unsolicited national mailing from the Heartland Institute to science teachers and science department chairs. It included a book entitled Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming and an accompanying DVD. The following day a Minnesota science teacher received the same mailing. It is likely that other Minnesota educators have also received this.

The first mailing was to 25,000 science teachers. The plan is for a similar mailing every two weeks until every public school science teacher in the nation is reached. I've seen numbers in excess of 200,000.

The mailing was the topic of a story by Frontline (March 28). It is also the topic of an important blog post by Greg Laden, a Twin Cities blogger who writes frequently and I think with some authority on climate change.

Dr. Laden's post includes information about the Heartland Institute, consensus science (a relatively new concept in science) and references to several recent books on climate change.  From my perspective it is a valuable and useful post for science and environmental educators. I recommend you scan the responses and Laden's responses.

You will notice in Laden's responses that he has insights into the nature of teaching, the daily life of teachers and standards in science.

Naomi Klein who writes for The Nation attended and reported on the Heartland's Institute's Sixth International Conference on Climate Change in 2011. It was received with mixed responses!

h/t Glenn Branch, NCSE for pointing me to the PBS report.