'The decision by the government to distribute Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth has been the subject of a legal action by New Party member Stewart Dimmock. The Court found that the film was misleading in nine respects and that the Guidance Notes drafted by the Education Secretary’s advisors served only to exacerbate the political propaganda in the film. In order for the film to be shown, the Government must first amend their Guidance Notes to Teachers to make clear that 1.) The Film is a political work and promotes only one side of the argument. 2.) If teachers present the Film without making this plain they may be in breach of section 406 of the Education Act 1996 and guilty of political indoctrination. 3.) Nine inaccuracies have to be specifically drawn to the attention of school children.'
Another political party in the UK, UKIP, has recently suggested that Schools' Low Carbon Day may also be illegal (3):
UKIP’s joint deputy leader said: “The notion that environmental pressure groups disguised as concerned parents should infiltrate 1,600 schools with a political propaganda message dressed up as scientific concern for the planet is contrary to the provision of the education acts, which forbid political activity in schools.
“It is now apparent that global warming is not happening at the predicted rate and it is now increasingly understood among scientists that the rapid but not unprecedented rate of warming from 1976 to 2001 was chiefly of natural and not of human origin.
“Even if the UN‘s alarmist and wildly exaggerated estimates on the warming effect of co2 are correct, shutting the global economy down completely for half a century would do no more than prevent less than 1°C of warming – at a hideous cost not only to human lives worldwide but also to the environment itself.”
I noted that on the now defunct website, Greg Clarke MP, former Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change was quoted as supporting the initiative:
'It is our children and grandchildren that will be most affected by climate change. We have a duty to equip them to deal with the challenges that it presents, and ‘Schools' Low Carbon Day’ works towards this goal.'
Breaking another law, several sites described the people behind Low Carbon Day, 'Mothers Against Climate Change', or 'Cool the World', as a 'registered charity', which it is not. Here are the sites:
http://www.healthypages.co.uk/newsitem.php?news=6265
http://ethicalandgreen.com/2010/03/29/schools-low-carbon-day/
http://naturalmatters.net/news-view.asp?news=4151
http://www.ukteachersforums.co.uk/archive/index.php?t-420417.html
http://www.newportlearn.net/caerleon/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=152
http://breastfeedingmums.typepad.com/breastfeedingmums_blog/2010/03/schools-low-carbon-day-launches-to-educate-1-million-children-about-climate-change-.html
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/510/Schools-Low-Carbon-Day.html
Here is a school which seems to have taken part.
http://www.wolverley.worcs.sch.uk/2010/06/21/low-carbon-week-21st-25th-june/
Meanwhile, in Germany it is also illegal to engage in political indoctrination in schools. Here are two examples (4):
In Germany departments of education in all states have their schools spread the message that the country is endangered by “climate change”. So a documentary of Report München (a political magazine in a public German TV channel) of 2007 showed an activist of a German campaign group telling young students in Bremen that their City (elev. 12m) would eventually be swallowed by “rising sea level”. In our next study we will have a closer look at such activities which are illegal by German law.
We found a perfect example of green climate indoctrination in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Selected 8th-graders were detached to a private enterprise and brainwashed for 8 days each to become “Student Mentors for Climate Protection”, with the task to mobilize their co-students for participation in all kinds of greenish activity. Costs are shared between the Ministery of Education and Ministery of Environment. That the Code of Education in that state prohibits any kind of political indoctrination ...was apparently [overlooked] by those ministers who compete for environmental image.'
If any of these examples can be adequately substantiated, I hope that someone somewhere will be in a position to take some legal action in order to help reduce the risk of this sort of nonsense happening again and again.
(4) Quote taken from notes 1) and 2) in the References of the report 'Rescue from the Climate Saviors', downloadable via: http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2010/06/rescue-from-climate-saviors.html
They were claiming to be a Registered Charity, but this was quietly changed to "Voluntary organisation with charitable status" shortly before the close down. Presumably due to the numerous enquiries being carried out into their activities....
ReplyDeletePicked up a copy of our local free rag (The Crosby and Litherland Champion)this week and was perhaps not that surprised to find a piece on 'School's Low Carbon Day' at St Mary's College, Crosby.
ReplyDeleteVol 17, Issue 33 dae 11 August 2010
"St Mary's College in Crosby have backed a natinwide project bringing children together to tacle climate change.
The college recently took in a national Schools Low carbon day which putthe spotlight on ways pupils and their families can reduce their impact in the environment.
Around 1,500 schools across the country with almost 600,000 pupils in total, wre involved in the campaign which was organised by Cool the World, a voluntary organisation formed by a group of young parents.
St Mary's head of science, Bob Johnston, said: 'The aim was to set aside a day to teach children about the importance of energy conservation and climate chnage. As part of this exercise, we also aske staff, students and their families to pledge to do somethimg to reduce their carbon emissions'
On Low Carnon day people were asked to walk or cycle to St Mary's rather than use a car. The lights and computers att he school were used as little as possible, and only cold fodd was available at lunchtime.
In addition, pupils were encouraged to have ab 'earth hour' when they returned home, trying not to switch anything on or use any energy for at least 60 minutes.
'We were delighted at the response to this event' said Bob Johnston, 'It was a very useful way of highlighting the practical steps we can all take to reduce our carbon footprint'"
For thos ewho don't know St Mary's College is a fee-paying Catholic School that is the bain of local residents in Kimberley Drive, Crosby who have to suffer all the 4x4s and other gas guzzling cars that block their access to their homes during the school run. Most pupils who attend the school are not local to Crosby but instead are driven in (a few are bused in) and so are very unlikely to have walked to cycled to school on Schools Low Carbon Day.
Clearly this was a 'feel good' day for the teaching staff and not in any way a serious attempt at tackling climate change.
I suspect none of science teaching staff bothered to do do any research to find out who was behind the organisation of this event (as I and other did) namely a business woman and her friends and family who clearly are just 'greenwashing' their business that amongst other things sells 'patio heaters'. The organisers of this event are also so concerned about future climate change and its dire consequences that they choose to live in a house built on a former flood plain yards from the River Thames.