Climate misinformation group infiltrates convention of science teachers

The CO2 Coalition, a group which denies that human-caused emissions are causing the global climate crisis, recently had its members ejected from a science teachers’ convention after signing up under false pretences.

The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) held a convention in Atlanta last month, attracting 6,500 science educators from kindergarten to high school and university level. The three-day event covered all areas of science education with 246 stalls and dozens of meetings and presentations.

On the second day, a teacher alerted NSTA staff that the CO2 Coalition was distributing a comic book about “Simon the solar-powered cat”. The comic’s ultimate message was that CO2 is a “miracle molecule” fuelling life on Earth because it is part of the photosynthesis process in plants.

While CO2 does help plants grow, the glaring omission is that overwhelming scientific evidence confirms carbon emissions, and other greenhouse gases caused by humans, are heating up the planet at an alarming rate with serious harm to both people and the natural world.

“It’s kind of like if you’re talking about cigarettes, and all you talk about is how cool they make you look,” Professor Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, told The Washington Post, which first reported the story.

Along with the misleading comic book, CO2 Coalition also distributed a more explicit pamphlet titled “Challenging the National Science Teaching Association’s Position Statement on Climate Change”.

The front page included the Latin phrase, audiatur et altera pars, meaning “let the other side be heard as well”.

After the booklets came to light, CO2 Coalition was asked by the chief operating officer and head of exhibits to remove any materials which didn’t align with NSTA’s science-based positions.

“You can take down your literature or you can go home. It’s your choice,” NSTA chief operating officer Ryan Foley said, according to a video filmed surreptitiously and posted to YouTube by the CO2 Coalition.

When the group refused, Mr Foley responded: “All right, then you’re being kicked out. You should pack up and get out.”

The Independent has contacted the CO2 Coalition for comment.

The CO2 Coalition had applied for a booth at the convention by signing a contract for exhibitors which states what they will distribute aligns with NSTA position statements.

NSTA’s position on the teaching of climate science is that it "confirms the solid scientific foundation on which climate change science rests and advocates for quality, evidence-based science to be taught in science classrooms in grades K–12 and higher education".

Erika Shugart, executive director of the NSTA, told The Independent in a phone interview on Wednesday that up until this point, their “good faith effort” had been sufficient for convention applications.

“Moving forward, we’re looking at some of our policies to consider whether we will need to look at groups more closely," Dr Shugart said.

"This is a group that’s bringing political aspects into science education," she continued. "Science education is there to teach science, and we’re going to align with the best science there is. That includes climate science, and the fact that the climate is changing due to manmade factors."

A CO2 Coalition spokesperson claimed to The Post that the group was “overwhelmed by the positive response from the teachers at the convention".

Dr Shugart told The Independent: "Our experience was that was not the case."

She added: "Our members feel really strongly that their jobs as teachers is to prepare students to be educated consumers of science, so that they can make informed decisions about the world around them. To do that, we have to present concepts that support learning aligning with national and state standards, which include climate change. We know that climate change is grounded in the consilience of multiple lines of evidence as presented in peer-reviewed journals."

Dr John Cook, a professor at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University and founder of the Skeptical Science website, previously told The Independent that a defining characteristic of climate misinformation was the “attacks on scientists, and on the science itself”.

“The misinformation arguments are that people can’t trust scientists, can’t trust models, can’t trust climate data. It’s all about building doubt and undermining public trust in climate science,” he said.

The CO2 Coalition’s funding is shrouded in secrecy. Previous tax filings have revealed thousands of dollars in donations from major right-wing funders including the Mercer Family Foundation and Charles Koch Foundation, according to the Center for Media and Democracy.

In the US, more than 86 per cent of teachers and 84 per cent of parents support climate change education in schools, according to Columbia University’s Climate School.

In 2020, New Jersey became the first state to mandate teaching climate change in all subjects from kindergarten. Connecticut passed a law last year requiring that public schools start to incorporate lessons on the climate crisis into their science curriculum.

However there have been efforts to undermine and politicize science teaching. In Texas, for example, the Board of Education recently called for science textbooks to emphasize the “positive” effects of fossil fuels, the Washington Post reported.

"I just want to emphasize that NSTA is very supportive of teaching climate change in the classroom," Dr Shugart said.

"It’s an essential part of understanding science. And what this group was putting out does not align at all with what we, or what science teachers, want to teach in their classrooms."