The Senate Committe on Environment and Public Works, chaired by global warming-denier James Inhofe, is up in arms over a kids’ book. The book, Tore and the Town on Thin Ice, was created by the U.N. to bring the depressing message of manmade climate change to young readers. The committee’s resident children’s book reviewer summarizes:
The book is about a young boy named Tore [rhymes with “Gore?”] who lives in an Arctic village. Tore loses a dog sled race because he crashes through the thinning ice allegedly caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions. The book features colorful drawings and large text to appeal to young children.
After the boy loses the dog sled race, he is visited by “Sedna, the Mother of the Sea” in a dream. The “Sea Mother” Goddess informs Tore in blunt terms that the thinning ice that caused his loss in the dog sled race was due to manmade global warming.
“I’m the one who created and cares for the sea creatures—whales and walruses, seals and fish,” the “Sea Mother” explains to Tore. The “Sea Mother” then tells the boy she will educate him about the reason the ice is thinning.
It concludes with this ominous anti-freedom message:
The book ends with a section answering the question “What can you do?” The book’s answer includes such suggestions as “join or create an environmental club,” “only drive cars if you must,” and “write to your political leaders.”
The book itself is actually pretty lame—embarassingly earnest and numbingly dull—but not because it gets the science wrong or sends the wrong message. (Check it out for yourself here [PDF].) If Inhofe and Co. want to pan it, fine. That they’re using their remaining time heading a Senate committe going after a cheesy kids’ book says a lot about just how much legitmacy the global warming “skeptics” have left.
