“Alternative” Climate Science Is Being Mailed to Teachers Nationwide
The Heartland Institute has mailed books and DVDs claiming there is no scientific consensus on climate change to more than 300,000 teachers. Now four senators are warning that it’s false information.
Teachers nationwide are being targeted in a campaign to spread bogus information about climate change, four US senators warned the secretary of education in a letter sent on Wednesday and shared with BuzzFeed News.
Packages holding a cover letter, a 135-page book, and an 11-minute DVD, all falsely claiming that there is no scientific consensus on man-made climate change, started arriving in teacher mailboxes in March. The mailings were sent to more than 300,000 teachers, according to the group behind the campaign, the Heartland Institute. Based outside of Chicago, Heartland is a conservative think tank that lobbies against climate regulation, has received funding from fossil fuel-linked groups, and lauded President Donald Trump’s recent decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
“The Heartland Institute has disseminated 'alternative facts' and fake science at the behest of its industry funders for decades,” reads the letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, signed by Democratic senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Edward Markey, Elizabeth Warren, and Brian Schatz.
Heartland does not dispute that the purpose of the mailers, which included the organization’s book, Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming, was to encourage teachers to challenge mainstream climate science.
“The intent was to make sure teachers were aware that there was alternative scientific research,” Heartland spokesperson Jim Lakely told BuzzFeed News.
“There’s been a positive response to the mailings for sure,” Lakely said. Responding to requests from schools, Heartland staff visited some classrooms this spring, he added. “We have some invitations pending for the next school year when it begins.”
Earlier this week, Whitehouse, an outspoken advocate for action on climate change, sent a similar letter to a dozen science education and teacher associations, debunking the Heartland information. For some teachers, the mailers were already a source of frustration.
“I’m appalled at the Heartland Institute’s gall to think we are dumb enough to buy into this,” said Cheryl Manning, a science teacher at Evergreen High School in Colorado who, along “Alternative” Climate Science Is Being Mailed to Teachers Nationwide:
