In alignment with the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) agenda on the “climate crisis”, many states have passed or have proposed legislation to bring (well, advance) climate communism in K12 education. While this agenda is no secret or surprise, it is a surprise when Republicans are sponsoring this legislation.
As we head into new legislative sessions for almost every state and bills being prefiled in advance, we’re seeing that the climate agenda is going to be a top priority for lawmakers in 2024. The “bipartisan” nature of some of this legislation will likely ensure that it is overlooked by concerned citizens during the legislative process.
The climate agenda infiltrating K12 education is often referred to as “environmental literacy” or “climate literacy.” Doesn’t that sound nice?
According to NAAEE (North American Association of Environmental Education) “Climate literacy is understanding your influence on climate and climate’s influence on you and society. A climate-literate person understands the essential principles of Earth’s climate system, knows how to assess scientifically credible climate information, communicates about climate change in a meaningful way, and can make informed and responsible decisions regarding actions that may affect climate. (NOAA)”
Washington state OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) defines “environmental literacy”
You will notice that the “climate crisis” looks very familiar to other ideology rampant in our culture today, most specifically Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) but it is also very connected to Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Both DEI and SEL are being used in K12 education (higher education, private and public businesses/organizations) to indoctrinate children with a Marxist ideology.
Washington state is very clear about the connection of a “sustainable environment” and DEI. DEI is a direct benefit of environmental literacy as “equality in access to environmental education and outdoor learning for every student improves inclusivity at each school district.”
Our youngest children are being manipulated with fear about the so-called “climate crisis.” Is it any wonder that we have a youth mental health crisis? Are we surprised that children are suffering from unprecedented levels of anxiety? The radical left is creating crisis upon crisis, piggybacking off one to advance another.
The WEF claims: “The climate crisis and young people’s education are often viewed in isolation, but are inextricably linked”, which means that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are working in lockstep to bring “environmental literacy” into the classroom.
As a result of the “climate crisis”, we’ve got gender inequality, conflict, and poverty.
The Democrat Party says, “Climate change is a global emergency. We have no time to waste in taking action to protect Americans’ lives and futures…Like so many crises facing the United States, the impacts of climate change are not evenly distributed in our society or our economy. Communities of color, low-income families, and Indigenous communities have long suffered disproportionate and cumulative harm from air pollution, water pollution, and toxic sites.” Of course we expect this from the Democrat Party, it’s a little surprising when Republicans sign on to sponsor legislation to advance this policy that will not only draw on both state and federal funding.
As maddening as the indoctrination of our children is, the real kicker is that students are being advanced to the next grade level even though they are not even meeting state standards. Take Washington, for example: only 50.7% of students met state standards for English and only 39.1% met math standards.
Michigan students are doing even worse with just 40.9% meeting standard for ELA and 30.7% on math.
The students most impacted by the failure of our government schools are those groups that the government tells us they care so much about – those “marginalized” populations that need to be included – they are the ones being hurt the most by this failure by our government.
So let’s talk about policy. So far, two bills have emerged on our radar ahead of the 2024 session. One in Washington, HB 1935 which is co-sponsored by a Republican and one in Michigan, *2023-HIB-4961.pdf (mi.gov). Let’s take a quick look at both of these bills – be sure to click on the links to dig in more.
HB 1935: “promoting resource conservation practices that include student education and leadership opportunities in public schools.” It’s another pretty-sounding headline but as you dig deeper into the bill, it’s all about advancing climate communism in WA’s government schools. One of the purposes of the legislation is to provide tree canopy on school campuses to offer shade to students for “extreme heat.” As someone who lived in Washington for 48+ years, I can attest that the temperatures have been consistent over the decades of my life, with some summers being hotter than others and some winters colder than others. That’s how climate works and if we just look at history, we can see these variations in weather patterns.
The bill also has climate curriculum included. Remember that only 50.7% of Washington students are meeting ELA standards – climate curriculum would be plugged into ELA, likely replacing important things like reading and grammar.
Michigan’s HB 4961 would create a task force, made up of a team of school bureaucrats including the director of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE); the director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR); a representative of the Michigan Science Teachers Association; a representative of the Michigan Association of School Administrators and several others.
What’s the big deal…it’s just a task force. The result of the work of the task force will determine the curriculum that will be pushed into the government schools and onto our children.
As legislative sessions get underway across the country, we anticipate we will see a lot more bills like these. The bottom line: our schools are failing our children. It’s time for lawmakers to put the focus on the children, not advance the agendas of special interest groups, the elites and the World Economic Forum.
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