Review by Choice Review
Today's young people will increasingly feel the deleterious effects of a changing climate, so it is critical they be educated about its causes and solutions. This book presents a sobering overview of how global warming is being taught in American K--12 schools. A brief overview of the science behind the discovery of global warming--sadly neglecting to mention American scientist and feminist Eunice Newton Foote's discovery of the heat-trapping characteristics of CO2 and water vapor in 1856--is followed by a solid presentation of the research leading to the modern scientific consensus on anthropogenic warming. Another chapter examines why many teachers are unfamiliar with, or ignore, this consensus, finding it is primarily because of a lack of preparation, a de-emphasis on Earth science, and given teachers' political orientations. A historical survey explores the intellectual connections between groups pushing anti-evolution, creation science/intelligent design, and the denial of global warming and how those positions impact teaching standards. Through a deft combination of interviews and extensive research, Worth, an award-winning investigative journalist, pillories major textbook companies for privileging markets over science and criticizes school districts for uncritically accepting tendentious booklets and videos from fossil fuel firms. Unfortunately, this important book lacks an index. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. --Robert T. Ingoglia, St.Thomas Aquinas College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Journalist Worth debuts with a striking look at how climate change is taught in American primary and secondary schools. Despite overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is "real, it's us, it's bad, and there's hope," she writes, the country has developed a system in which "children in some places are required by law to learn about the phenomenon... while in others, students may not hear the words 'climate change' in class at all." Worth traces the history of the tensions between science and religious fundamentalism back to the controversy engendered by Darwin's theory of evolution. In the present, textbook publishers eager to avoid upsetting school boards elide or omit climate change, and state standards rarely require coverage. Meanwhile, she notes, wealthy energy companies borrow from the tobacco industry playbook by funding "educational" materials that downplay or equivocate on the scope of the threat. Worth makes powerful use of anecdotes, as with one student who lost his home to a forest fire, but doesn't believe climate change is real. There are no easy solutions here (though she does briefly outline the bare minimum that scientists say children should learn), but the author's illumination of the issue digs deep. Policymakers and educators alike will find much to consider. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A damning report on the state of science education in America, especially regarding climate change. As background for her concise and rigorous analysis of climate education, Frontline investigative journalist Worth developed a nationwide, state-by-state database and reviewed dozens of textbooks. As she notes, there are roughly 50 million children enrolled in 100,000 public schools across the country, taught by 3 million teachers--and there are no national standards. The result, not surprisingly, is a sharp red-blue divide. The red side is bolstered by ample investments from fossil fuel producers and strict controls from conservative activists, and red states, notably Texas, are fitted with textbooks that cast doubt about the concept of human-caused climate change. Overall, Worth writes, "classrooms have emerged as a battleground in the American political war over climate change because what kids learn about climate change now will directly impact the speed and ambition of action taken for decades to come." It stands to reason that in the red states, that action will be nonexistent. Worth writes of an AP science teacher in Oklahoma who refuses to teach anthropogenic climate change because her family is in the oil and gas business--were she to want to teach it in the first place, since many districts and states forbid its inclusion in the curriculum. The divide widens: As Worth notes, "we know that as lawmakers in some red states have worked to shrink what their children learn about climate change, lawmakers in some blue states have worked to expand them." It may depress some readers to hear of this "crude two-tier system" as well as to learn of the author's investigations into textbook publishing and reviewing, with editors rewriting commissioned science pieces to fit political formulas. "These patterns are no accident of history," Worth concludes. "Rather, they are the product of successful disinformation campaigns, animated not by science but by ideology." More solid evidence of the politicization of everything, including the truth. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
