The Government should be trying to teach our children about climate change, rather than indoctrinate them
OPINION: The climate change booklet produced by the Ministry of Education is certainly educational . Just don't expect to learn much about anthropogenic climate change . According to the Ministry, "climate change is, at its core, an equity issue", which is a surprise. I had been under the impression that it was a chemical one. Something to do with carbon molecules, cows and Al Gore. Seems I was wrong. READ MORE: * Climate change education resource to be in schools in 2020 * Greta Thunberg is person of the year * Italy first to mandate climate change education in schools * Disappointment over marathon UN climate talks The controversial document is a political treatise, not an environmental one. In its 52 pages there is surprisingly little material on how an increase in carbon and methane is affecting our climate but rather a lot on what students should be doing about it. Greta Thunberg, school strikes and activism are all referenced positively . Children are encouraged to give up meat for a day, urged to commit to actions and are to be taught about equity, including "social justice, intergenerational equity and finite resources." The Industrial Revolution is described as a catalyst for the increase in carbon but omits the benefits to civilisation that this transformation brought and in case the kids remain unconvinced teachers are urged to show students pictures of polar bears on melting ice. A deeply emotive trick to deploy on children. Anticipating dissent even in the classroom the Ministry advises teachers; "When discussing the material, teachers may encounter students who cope through avoidance, denial, diversionary tactics, wishful thinking and a range of other coping mechanisms." Most remarkably the document has a section on confronting a series of climate myths and the scientific answers. "Climate scientists are in it for the money," is answered with the assertion that they could earn more working for the oil industry. This is not just misleading. It is a lie. And it is a lie that betrays the sophistry that goes to the heart of not just this booklet but a large part of the environmental movement. But then we come to the real purpose of the publication. There is advice on how children can challenge those who "...oppose climate science", including role playing debates with sceptics and advice about: "How do you speak to someone in a way that makes them more likely to listen?" A reasonable person, of which there are none when it comes to the politics of climate change, might find this disturbing. Should our schools be teaching children how to think or telling them what to think? Is it really the role of the education sector to be breeding a fresh cohort of climate cadres? The intellectual dishonesty is best illustrated by what the publication omits, rather than what it includes. Sensible people can debate the merits of using nuclear energy given the greenhouse effect of carbon and an objective environmental critique of climate change would include a discussion on this topic. Nuclear comes with its own challenges and risks and they warrant debate and discussion. But if you produce a booklet on climate change that makes references to Maori science and not a single word on nuclear energy then you are engaged in propaganda, not education. And this is the heart of the problem. The environmental and the social justice movements have merged. The solutions we are being asked to adopt often have little to do with reducing carbon and are more focused on the political objectives of those running the agenda. Anyone who questions the approved narrative is labelled a denier and outcast from civil society. Like many readers, I find myself increasingly concerned at the possibility that the climate alarmists are correct. I'll confess I don't understand how a microscopic increase in carbon can affect climate, but I don't understand how a microwave works either. Sometimes you just have to trust that people who do understand this stuff are not engaged in a decades-long global conspiracy to obtain tenure. The recent failure of the Madrid conference , the disintegration of the Paris accord and the aggressive development of coal in China and India are areas of legitimate concern. These are all things that we should be discussing with our children, but the document under discussion does none of this. The Ministry of Education should be teaching children, not indoctrinating them.