A Textbook Case of Global Warming Denial in New Jersey

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New Jersey high school student Matthew LaClair is crying foul over a college-level textbook that includes ungrounded and highly misleading information about the state of climate changeย science.

As reported in the Wonk Room, the textbook American Government states that โ€œthe scientific community is divided over the issue,โ€ and โ€œactivist scientists say that the earth is getting warmer; skeptical ones note that the earthโ€™s atmosphere has been getting cooler.โ€ Environmentalists are portrayed as โ€œelites who often base their arguments on ideology as much as factsโ€ and โ€œraise money with scary statements about the harm global warming willย cause.โ€

Not surprising, the authors of the textbook, James Q. Wilson and John DiIulio Jr., have close ties to the Republican party and right-wing/free-market think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute and the Manhattanย Institute.

Here’s some more excerpts from Americanย Government:

Activist scientists say that the earth is getting warmer; skeptical ones note that the earthโ€™s atmosphere has been gettingย cooler.โ€

Activists say that the sea will rise because of melting ice caps; skeptics respond that the ice caps are notย melting.โ€

Activists say that a warmer earth will be bad for humankind; skeptics say that a warmer earth will make it easier to grow crops and feed people. Activists say that we should act now, despite scientific doubts; skeptics say that we should learn more before doingย anything.โ€

Friends of the Earth have started an email campaign to pressure the publisher Houghton Mifflin, to correct the misinformation contained in the textbook. Please take a moment to fill out the FOE form and also be sure to pass it on to your friends to sign asย well.

UPDATEhas weighed in on his Dot Earth Blog.ย 

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Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a โ€œGreen Heroโ€ by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the โ€œTop 50 Tweetersโ€ on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevinโ€™s research into the โ€œclimate denial industryโ€ and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Kochโ€™s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea partyย networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a โ€œCertified Expertโ€ on theย political and community organizing platformย NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the worldโ€™s best e-Content and innovative ICTย applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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