Sweet it was to see Inconvenient Truth walk off with a couple of Oscars last night, and to hear the impassioned, succinct acceptance speeches.
As you may know the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) recently turned down 50,000 free copies of the film, stating it would constitute a “product endorsement.”
Jeff Masters, one of the bloggers we depend on for weather and climate related issues, points out, referring to realclimate.org, that NSTA depends heavily on Exxon Mobile for funding, as does the American Enterprise Institute.
AEI has recently been in the news for agressively soliciting (offering $10,000) views contrary to the just released climate change report by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), under the auspices of the U.N. Interestingly, the NSTA has on its list of recommended readings “Global Warming: Understanding the Debate”, by Kenneth Green, a fellow of the AEI. Doubly interesting, the letters of $10,000 solicitations for solid-science debunkers was sent by the same Mr. Green. One wonders what science is in the book being recommended by association of science teachers.
By bringing this up Masters isn’t promoting “Inconvenient Truth.” In fact he says it is too politicized for best science teaching, though he likes it as a capable rendition of science for the general public. He does offer a couple of suggestions aimed at the Jr. and Sr. High levels — neither of which appear on the NSTA recommended list. So, if you know science teachers, pass these on to them:
“The two best books for teaching about climate change are missing from the NSTA’s recommendations: Robert Henson’s excellent Rough Guide to Climate Change (high school level) and The North Pole Was Here (grades 6-9), by New York Times climate change writer Andrew Revkin.”
Update: Juan Cole, our go-to guy for information from Iraq and much of the Middle East, weighs in on the Oscar occassion, and the AEI-Exxon Mobile Nexus.
We know that Exxon Mobil is a significant funder of the American Enterprise Institute and has used it to attempt to bribe “scientists” to cast doubt on global warming. Lee Raymond, who was CEO of Exxon Mobil until 2005, is the vice-chair of AEI’s board of directors.
We also know that the American Enterprise Institute is the most hawkish of the Washington “think tanks,” and that its staffers were key to thinking up and promoting the Iraq War with lies and propaganda.
A=B, B=C, therefore A=C. Exxon Mobil is a big behind the scenes player in the Iraq War by virtue of its support for AEI. In fact, I think a boycott of its gas stations is in order until the company cuts off AEI and stops promoting the Iraq War and muddying the waters on global warming. (It pledged to do the latter in the past, but obviously was lying).