There’s been some discussion about the “indoctrination” of AGW theory in school systems worldwide, mostly by teachers showing Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, in schools.
As a former school trustee in my town of Chico, CA, I can vouch for the fact that AIT has been shown in some local schools, with student discussions centered around it. It is of course not on the approved curriculum, but some teachers take it upon themselves to introduce it into the classroom on their own. Since most teachers have leeway in choosing films to show to classes, unlike with textbooks, which are chosen by the school board, films generally “fly under the radar” requiring only a form approved by the school principal.
So it was with interest that I was advised of a new website, Kids Against Anthropongenic Global Warming, put together by 14 year old girl from Far North Queensland, Australia. I see it as an antithesis to the horrible website that was put together by Australia’s ABC TV network:
TV Network Tells Kids How Long Their Carbon Footprint Should Allow Them to Live
I’ve never seen a more disgusting kid-theme for “science” education than the above link.
This Kids againts AGW site is done in the spirit of Krysten Byrnes, who wrote an essay that caught worldwide attention and then launched a website with more essays and ideas, this website is in it’s infancy. As we saw with Krysten, it takes courage to go against what is generally accepted by your peers at school. Unfortunately, she’s using a pseudonym, which is something I discourage with adults, since I think you should stand behind your words. But maybe this is the only way mum and dad would allow her to do it. Here’s a bit about her from her website:
Hi, my name’s Eloise (pseudonym) and I am a 14 year old girl from Far North Queensland, Australia. My dad first informed me that the concept of Anthropogenic Global Warming was nothing but a theory presented as fact. It really started to annoy me that people would just believe what anyone *Al Gore* says, without asking for any evidence to support what was said. My dad showed me some online links and pushed me to find a conclusion myself. My conclusion: Al Gore is a hypocrite and scaremongers people into paying him to lecture without even letting himself be challenged by skeptics, people usually want to think that man is evil and imposing on the earth and most importantly that Anthropogenic Global Warming is nothing but an unproven theory. And that is the most “Inconvenient Truth”.
Emphasis hers. Let’s give the kid some encouragement. – Anthony
Thanks for showing that letter from Queensland, Anthony. i agree with you about the TV station they should lose their license.
AnthroPONGenic! I like it. 🙂
[…] However I have been woken up to do a post following something I read at Anthony Watts’ excellent blog on the subject of Kids Against Anthropogenic Global Warming. […]
I work with a company that produces science curriculum materials in environmental science targeted at high schools. It is a constant (and losing)battle to try to get the management to present balanced presentations regarding environmental issues. But at least the company has never sunk to this level! Thank God I’m a senior citizen, because I don’t have many more years allotted to me by Dr. Schpinkee’s Greenhouse Calculator!
My son is 13, and his teacher gave him both sides of the issue. He believes the NGW over AGW. I was shocked that his teacher even proposed NGW.
but a small child cried out, “But he has nothing on!”
I am increasingly coming to believe that everything that is presented as mainstream opinion is a lie. Everything.
I think it would be more accurate to say it’s a hypothesis that’s still being tested. Some of the facts support it, some don’t, therefore it needs to be refined, or thrown out.
Just tell those kids to stop exhaling, and just hold their breath.
[…] Watts’ excellent site posted this, but it’s worth repeating here. Eloise is (purportedly and I assume really) a 14-year-old […]
Eloise mentions Mr. Bolt’s link. Apparently she’s referring to this Melbourne Herald Sun blog item.
My daughter had quite an experience with this indoctrination in 9th grade a couple of weeks ago. She came home and told me “they really want us to believe we are the ones causing it and there is no other reason AND we must accept that as fact”…….she is very skeptical of the whole AGW and agrees with NGW! She has listened well to her father… 🙂
http://www.cookevilleweatherguy.com
Interesting! A 14 year old is smarter than the politicians. Well now that I think of it, this is no surprise.
M Whitebut a small child cried out, “But he has nothing on!”
oh yes, oh yes!
I went directly to Eloise’s website, read it and emailed her, saying how proud her work made me feel, and (hope this is ok Anthony) to email you if she needed help from us! I’m going to Iain Stewart’s lecture next week in Southampton, this is spiritual warfare not aggression, so I shall tell him (and everyone I can) about this website. Iain did say he cared about what he was bequeathing his children.
This is the best news of the day. Thank you Anthony.
[…] the original here: Kids Against Anthropongenic Global Warming Tags: against-anthropongenic, education, global, politics, school, science, technology, weather […]
[…] http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/10/10/kids-against-anthropongenic-global-warming Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Global Warming SitesTurnout of Voters Key to Victory in Presidential Election 2008 […]
I also posted her blog and pointed her to this site and to surfacestations……
Young people rebelling against the ways of adults, who would have thought!
I bet the AGWers didn’t think about the generational coolness reversal principle!
cheers
My 13 year old daughter is an NGWer too. Yes, there is hope in this world. Shes’ at the top of her class. Does that mean the all NGWers are smart? 🙂
She’s also afraid of Obama so I need to calm her down on that one and tell her that many times there are unintended consequences of our actions that are often opposite to the expected effect. So when Obama and the Democratic majority starts taking us to the land of socialism, it may awaken Americans to remember the principles of our founding fathers, and get us back on track. Its still scary to bank on unintended consequences, but one can only hope.
Well done, Eloise! And cheers to you, Anthony!
Re:
Congratulations. My daughter (15) too, much to my dismay. I’d like to claim she’s just a chip off the ol’ block, but that’s not the case. Don’t know where the heck she gets the brains. As for the resistance to AGW, I hope that it’s symptomatic of a healthy skepticism to all intellectual fads to which she’s exposed in her life.
Speaking of skepticism, maybe you and your daughter would be interested in an article published in today’s WSJ. It gave us a good laugh over the dinner table, and she clipped it out to run by her friends, one of whom is Vegan.
Switzerland’s Green Power Revolution: Ethicists Ponder Plants’ Rights</B)
http://wsj.com/article/SB122359549477921201.html
Pete, I was reading Dan Millman’s “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” and Wilberforce’s incredible anti-slavery speech, and thinking, I need to be in the spirit of both of those in handling the AGW issue – especially when I meet Iain Stewart face-to-face.
Then I came home to find this post.
Lucy Skywalker (12:57:56) :
I’m going to Iain Stewart’s lecture next week in Southampton, this is spiritual warfare not aggression,
Good analysis. Those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness open themselves to “strong delusion.” (2 Thes. 2:10,11) Wrestling with demons of the lie is often frustrating and Eloise needs our support.
I am not at all sure that publicising the website of a minor in a debate that has become so polarised and occasionally personal (e.g. Dr Hansen has received some extraordinarily offensive communications see footnotes 5 & 6) is a wise move. I hope that Eloise, always assuming that she is indeed as she presents herself, looks back on this as a positive move.
The website More Grumbine Science describes its aims thus :I’ll be trying what seems to be an unusual approach in blogs — writing to be inclusive of students in middle school and jr. high, as well as teachers and parents (whether for their own information or to help their children). To that end, comments will have to pass a stricter standard than I’d apply for an all-comers site. It shouldn’t be onerous, just keep to the topic and use clean language.
I expect it to be fun for all, however, as you really can get quite far in understanding the world, even climate, by understanding this sort of fundamental. If I get too much less fundamental, let me know where I went astray. so may be an appropriate resource for Eloise. She links to the Petition Project, so she may be interested in Robert Grumbine’s discussions here and here . She seems a bright girl so will no doubt over time form her own opinion as to the reliability of Christopher Monckton. Perhaps we can fast-track that process regarding Andrew Bolt, however.
JP.
Lucy,
Perhaps this CO2 fraud is the work of a greater power challenging the rationalists among us to develop (or hone) our skills at addressing frauds and that there is another challenge in the near future that we are being groomed to address.
That’s because he’s an extraordinarily offensive person.
I have my doubts about whether she is actually a 14yo girl. I mean I didn’t see one LOL in the entire site!
But seriously the TV network is the taxpayer funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation and are waaaay in the AGW camp. They are ultra PC and shape almost every story about AGW into a criticism of Big Coal (I’ve heard them use that phrase) and love to link AGW skeptics to Big Oil or, popularly, Big Tobacco.
I’m not sure about other countries but here in Oz we have very abundant coal and almost all our power comes from burning it. Huge exporters as well. So getting the science right is hyper important as we are probably in the worst position if we decide to stop emitting CO2.
Love the blog, I’ve learnt a lot from this site.
Just because she’s 14 doesn’t mean she doesn’t have someone proofreading or coaching her. And not all teenagers act the way you’d expect.
Good on you Eloise!
Stick to your guns and keep assessing the evidence.
Cheers Graeme
OMGoodness! My kids, 2nd & 3rd Graders, get Al Gore shoved down their throats all the time–good to see the the other side of the coin!
I see no reason why a 16, 14, or even a 12-year old can’t tackle some of the thornier issues of Global warming. The language sure takes a beating, and even I can see where some noses are growing longer when certain “truths” are being stretched.
Use of the words “consensus”, for example. Good luck, Eloise.
I’m really tired of hearing about how we caused GW in school. All i hear from my science professer is GW crap. Hope people soon learn that GW is a hoax.
Oh dear, oh dear….
“I see no reason why a 16, 14, or even a 12-year old can’t tackle some of the thornier issues of Global warming”…
No, you wouldn’t. Considering it has taken a whole host of scientific disciplines the better part of a generation to refine the measurements, techniques and statistical tools necessary to make firm conclusions about this very complicated process – I see no reason why the opinions (for that’s all they are) of a teenager, who likely has not the slightest clue how to interpret a scientific paper let alone judge the accuracy of its contents or the reputation of its author(s), have any relevance whatsoever. For thinking that it is not so does not make it thus…..
Parroting the ill-informed views of her father doesn’t exactly show any sense of genuine inquiry or bravery. If our little ‘Eloise’ really cared about the issue, rather than her online image, she should spend the next ten years (that’s a minimum for how long it would take an above-average student to grasp the requisite facts) learning all there is to know about the science and THEN publish her findings in a peer-reviewed journal so that she can point out where the experts have made their errors – for that’s where the real reputations are earned, not by taking cheap, substance free shots online.
And Gunner B, you may be real tired of hearing about the AGW, but you’d better be ready to hear a hell of a lot more because with carbon emissions actually accelerating, we’re in for a rough ride. So please, people, try checking your facts first.