Spelunk – to explore caves, especially as a hobby.
Petition against preaching
17/01/2020Federated Farmers has launched a petition seeking to have the government’s climate change teaching resource withdrawn until it’s corrected:
The Ministry of Education has made a new Climate Change resource available to teachers on the Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) website. This is not compulsory but is a ready-made unit of work designed to be picked up and taught by teachers. The “Climate Change: Prepare today, live well tomorrow” unit has significant information missing which would provide important context about New Zealand’s emissions, it makes food choice recommendations that are not supported from a health perspective, it refers to overly simplistic and inaccurate messaging, it refers students and teachers to websites that are not intended for primary school age students and/or are not appropriate for the NZ context, and it encourages activism. In its current form it is not appropriate for use by teachers in classrooms.
Some of the content is scientific but some is inappropriate, simplistic and/or simply wrong.
The resource is also incomplete. It covers the risks with nothing about the remedies that could be available through innovation and technology.
It’s not unlike telling children they will all get diabetes without giving them reliable nutritional information and informing them about insulin.
Sign this petition to demand that the “Climate Change: Prepare today, live well tomorrow” is removed from the TKI website (and any other distribution forms) until such as time as it has been reviewed and amended to ensure completeness, accuracy, and relevance to the NZ context. In particular:
1. Provide information about the short-lived nature of methane in the atmosphere, and the difference between emissions and warming
2. Provide context around NZs agriculture emissions which are largely methane based
3. Encourage critical assessment of “food miles” and “buy local” messaging which is often simplistic and inaccurate
4. Remove suggestions around food choices, beyond “avoid waste”
5. Remove teaching of activism
6. Ensure all material is age appropriate and relevant for the NZ context
Education should be encouraging children to think not stirring up feelings of hopelessness.
Teachers should be encouraging pupils to investigate, question and problem solve, not inciting them to activism.
And schools should be teaching not preaching.