UK Schools Put U.S. Schools to Shame on Climate Change, of All Things

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We’ve written in the past about the bizarre saga of Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” and the National Science Teacher’s Association. In late November of last year, the NSTA turned down 50,000 free copies of the movie, saying that it didn’t accept materials from “special interests.” In truth, the issue was too much special interest: the NSTA is supported big-time by Exxon, who does more than anyone to stifle action on global warming, and potentially irritating a sponsor was enough to scare the NSTA off.

Today, a study in contrast. The UK’s Independent is reporting that under new curriculum rules set to be released Monday “education for sustainable development — covering issues such as energy saving and recycling — will be a compulsory part of the curriculum” for British schoolchildren. According to the Independent, starting next year 11- to 14-year-olds will learn about:

  • Climate change – the impact on pupils, the UK and the rest of world.
  • Children’s responsibilities – whether to travel by aeroplane or buy food from the other side of the world, and the impact of purchasing a gas-guzzling car or buying new clothes or trainers.
  • The impact of the south Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
  • Sustainable development – the importance of recycling waste products and saving energy.
  • Global warming – impact of rising sea temperatures and melting ice caps.
  • Fieldwork projects – such as studying ways to regenerate east London during preparations for the 2012 Olympics.
  • Learning to examine individuals’ carbon footprints, and what they can contribute in the fight to preserve the planet’s resources.
  • Looks like the 13th tipping point is beginning.

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    We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

    In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

    And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

    But staying afloat is harder than ever.

    In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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