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Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Willie Soon – anyone else worried about where this government funded programme could lead?
These inmates are learning about climate change
It can help prisoners feel connected to something larger than themselves.
In 2017, nearly a hundred inmates at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Washington state learned about climate change threats and disaster resilience.
Bush: “We feel that incarcerated people have been overlooked as participants in the environmental movement. We need to engage all people.”
Kelli Bush of Evergreen State College codirects the Sustainability in Prisons Project. The initiative runs environmental education programs at Washington’s 12 state prisons.
…
Read more: https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/06/inmates-learn-about-climate-change/
From the Sustainability in Prisons website;
… Mission: We empower sustainable change by bringing nature, science, and environmental education into prisons.
VISION
In response to the dual crises of ecological degradation and mass incarceration, we aim to reduce recidivism while improving human well-being and ecosystem health. SPP brings together incarcerated individuals, scientists, corrections staff, students, and program partners to promote education, conserve biodiversity, practice sustainability, and help build healthy communities. Together, we reduce the environmental, economic, and human costs of prisons. …
Gee, what could go wrong with indoctrinating a bunch of violent psychopaths with ideas that the world is about to end, nobody is listening, overpopulation is part of the problem, you are less likely to get into trouble for committing crimes if you are a climate zealot, and that everyone has to do their bit to help save the world?
Not all convicts are psychopaths.
And this is just another example of Climate Change taking up the responsibilities of established religion.
It’s what faith communities do.
True, not all are psychopaths. But prisons have very high rates of both psychopathy and also mental illness. This is a recipe for disaster – not to mention it’s simply indoctrinating them in bogus pseudoscience.
Not pseudoscience as much as quasi science. The fundamental principle is sound, but the assumed impact in the wild is grossly overestimated judging by the past 20 years, taking ENSO into consideration. The biggest unknowns that alarmist avoid are CO2 half-life and atmospheric sensitivity to increases in concentration ( as in an increase of 1 molecule per 10,000 to bring us from 300 ppm to 400 ppm).
What will the convicts do when they find out the Alarmists are lying to them?
And climate activism has a high proportion of sociopaths and mental illness. I’m sure they will find that they have a lot in common.
M Courtney has a very good point. This kind of evangelical role is typical of a lot what CAGW zealots are about.
What a waste of $$$.
Better to help them be better people, if that is possible.
If they remain violent, then they should do hard labor to use up that aggressive energy.
Money would be better spent paying prisoners to educate consensus climate scientists about how to best survive incarceration for engaging in fraudulent “science”, once enough people understand the scam and demand justice for the crimes.
Good point, Robert. 🙂
More thugs for the ‘movement’ when they’re released.
get out the vote
Gee, what could possibly go wrong?
Also, I wonder who’s paying for this. State taxpayers? Federal? Or ?
Evergreen State? Enough said.
“Gee, what could go wrong with indoctrinating a bunch of violent psychopaths ”
Where in the article does it say that they’re psychopaths? Or even violent?
Or is this just another example of EW presenting his own biased imaginations as news?
Yeah, you tell him! That EW, making the ridiculous assumption that if you indoctrinate a population characterized by having a large proportion of violent psychopaths, your likely to end up indoctrinating some violent psychopaths.
“Most incarcerated offenders (50 percent to 80 percent) have behavioral histories that meet diagnostic criteria for anti-social personality disorder, whereas a smaller subgroup (15 percent to 30 percent) meets criteria for psychopathy…
(Hare, 1991).Apr 8, 2016 Borderline Personality Disorder Among Jail Inmates: How Common …
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4825675/
“Or is this just another example of EW presenting his own biased imaginations as news?”
You’ve noticed that, too? It’s not just him, it’s pervasive on WUWT.
There is no doubt that mental illness is pervasive in prisons. That doesn’t mean all the mentally ill are psychopaths, or that all psychopaths are violent. There are psychopaths living among us who have never committed a crime. Presumably, not every inmate is given a chance to participate in these programs.
Seeing beyond people and people’s problems could have a valuable effect on inmates’ perception of the world. Any kind of change to take the walls of one’s past and present away to expose a different view could be beneficial. It is also giving inmates contact with science, and I bet many of them have had little of that. In some people it could spark an interest, and maybe lead to new paths.
I know how idealist that sounds. I’m in favor of any kind of program in prison designed to prevent recidivism, as long as it’s either evidence-based or a trial accompanied by research to measure effectiveness. We desperately need to keep people away from the revolving door, and for that they need structure in their lives and a legal way to support themselves once they get out.
There is something very wrong with having the highest incarceration rate in the world. The collateral costs are enormous.
(Speaking of costs and incarceration – detaining children separately from their families must cost a bundle.)
Kristi Silber
“I know how idealist that sounds.”
Correct.
Clearly, you have never worked in the criminal justice system.
“Clearly you have never worked”
Could have stopped there.
Yeah, she does seem to have a lot of time on her hands.
Yet again, Kristi defines unbiased as what she was taught to believe.
“detaining children separately from their families must cost a bundle”
It’s worth it to
a) Prevent child trafficking.
b) Make the parents realize what will happen when they break the law…
Are we suffering from yet another bout of moral relativism?
It’s also a captive audience – no pun intended – which Progressives tend to target.
Hell of an idea. Literally! This could be expanded to networks of concentration camps where evil “deniers” are re-educated until either they accept climate change or die trying. It could be like a…final solution, to the problem of communication of vitally important scientific dogma. The Inquisition burned people at the stake in the 1300’s. That seemed to keep things under control quite nicely, vis-a-vis blasphemy.
I notice the word ‘reeducation’ is being thrown around a lot these days.
I wonder how Michael Mann feels about criminals getting into the climate game. Competition!
you mean other criminals.
You would think skills and a job would do more….
+bazzillion!
Just add “legal” to job….
Maybe they should be taught Civics, personal responsibility and social studies…then they can get connected with the big old society that has been happening around them, and participate productively?
This would be fine if they were being told more about the science and a whole lot less about the CAGW dogma. People end up in prison for all sorts of reasons and not all of them are psychopaths or sociopaths. Any attempt to provide education and job skills is a good way to help but indoctrinating people who may already have their own suspicions about what is going on on the outside is madness. Besides, they have TV, internet, and newspapers, on the inside, they are not all uneducated louts.
Time to write some textbooks with reasonable climate science instead of hysteria and lies.
Yes, there are numerous other ideologies and religions who also actively recruit among the prison population.
But openly mentioning some specific ones will not only get you unfriended by the BBC et. al., but also might suddenly gain you the attention of the UK “security” services and legal system. Such strange times we live in. Bordering on “interesting times”.
I think they’re preparing the staff for an influx.
Brother used to do prison escort. Many of these people are just animals with no chance of rehab back into civil society. Most are emotional basketcases waiting to explode and the very few who appear to be a chance are corrupted by the festering hate and anger within the prison itself. Nobody wins and very few come out a better person for it
Inmates in the US call it “Crime School”.
Oh, they come out better alrighty.
They barely know anything going in.
But by the time they leave, most are fully educated.
Craig,
Correct. I was a policeman and can tell you that for many prisoners, life on the inside is infinitely better than life on the outside. I have arrested innumerable criminals who expressed relief at going back inside because they get their own bed and three meals a day, without paying a penny.
In fact I recall a number of people who would walk into our police station regularly and confess to crimes they didn’t commit just to get back inside.
Yep, they join gangs inside, and conform to the gangs rules under threat of violence or death.
Shame they can’t be as compliant outside prison. Perhaps society should take some lessons from that.
Even for those who make a genuine effort to reform and get back into society, the stigma of being a felon is a huge social obstacle to finding gainful employment. Many places won’t even look at applications from people with a felony on their record. Those who do manage to land a job will still face heightened scrutiny, special attention for “random” drug tests, and ostracism or even outright abuse from coworkers.
No wonder so many quit trying and turn back to crime.
Classic propaganda. Indoctrinate as many as you can. The CC narrative is going to take a l-o-n-g time to wind down.
This was the best laugh of the day. The first result will be, some prisoners (they are not all violent psychos, but many are, and many more are very good at manipulating others) will convince the doe-eyed profs/ students that the prisoner has sincerely “converted” and will be a model citizen/ activist if ONLY the early release comes through. Profs/ students will be enlisted in letter-writing campaigns to judges and parole boards attesting to the sincerity of the inmate. This will work for a few, who will then use their new connections to organize a rally, during which the ex-inmates will burgle the houses of profs (who are at the rally, of course). The inmates who don’t get released will turn on the profs/ students, blaming them for not getting released and (joining the chorus of the violent guys) threatening the activist prof/students. This will not dissuade the true believers, and Evergreen will host sessions where the students and profs confess to their own blame for the inmates’ behavior. In the end, most likely outcome: The profs and students who spend more time on the project of raising climate awareness among the inmates will become more like the inmates.
From what I’ve seen of Evergreen, they already are like the inmates.
Paul
you credit criminals with too much intelligence.
Most are just thick.
These will be a new class of Evergreen trained Marxist criminals.
Once you have convinced yourself that other people don’t deserve what they have, it’s a short step to convincing yourself that it is alright for you to take it from them.
In USA – More reason to support the 2nd amendment and the NRA, both of which support and provide for the right and ability to have ones own beliefs regardless of tyrannical gov’t interference in our lives.
Haven’t they been punished enough? Indoctrinating them into the ways of Scientology would accomplish the same thing. Or how about Hare Krishnas?
This is just genius: It can help prisoners feel connected to something larger than themselves.
Yeah, in the real world outside the prison walls and compounds, the only thing these perps want to be connected to is the cash in your cash drawer, whoever the head of the gangbangers is in the old ‘hood, and how many guns they can get so that they can carjack people at gunpoint.
This is SO lame! These recruiters need to be held hostage in a prison by the inmates at some point. That’s the REAL world. Then they might just shut up and go home. On the other hand, if you want to recruit a loyal army to overthrow a government, start with the prison population and promise them all sorts of things. They could make those who ravaged Europe and Cambodia look like pikers.
Why is it a photo of Antifa slobs instead of people in orange jumpsuits? Oh, is it because they’re at least as violent and numb as the prisoners addressed in the article? I may just stop wearing jeans because of those slobs.
I am impressed with their wide ranging ideas. They just don’t leave a single demographic out of their agenda. Is this a case of Total Control? Total indoctrination? One of Us?
Something else to get mad at “The Man” over. The Left is pushing for inmates to vote.
Just their latest ploy to grow the mob. In a mobocracy, the biggest mob wins. Fortunately, the US is not a mobocracy, and God willing won’t become one.
Civilization as I knew it has taken an lot of hard blows of late, When did reality fly out the window
and Alice in Wonderland fly in the door. Hope fades as I stumble along the rocky road of old age.
That’s cruel and unusual punishment. Start the lawsuits.
Great. Teach a bunch of people who are career liers, cheaters and thieves, dogma that’s consistent with lying, cheating and stealing.
Wonderful, teaching inmates to be thugs for the environmental movement. What could possibly go wrong?
In your guts you know they are nuts Paraphrase from 64 us elections
In years to come, this will be variously referred to as “The Stafford Experiment” or “The Other Stanford Experiment.”
From the link provided. Is pot legal there?
“In a single growing season, prison gardens grew ~492,000 lbs. of produce for food banks and prison kitchens; one example.
In six years of the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly program, reared and released more than 13,000 caterpillars and adult butterflies onto south Salish lowland prairies.
Since 2013, more than 1,100 students graduated from a 50-hour environmental course prepared for environmental careers, resource savings, and positive community involvement.
Since 2009, prairie conservation nurseries grew and delivered more than 2 million rare and endangered species for Salish lowland prairie restoration projects.
Our report for July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017 describes more than 180 programs! See the summary or full text.”
I am just going to leave this here.
Maybe someone can pick it up and make a post about it…a topic most of us here well understand, but which I have never heard discussed in exactly this way.
On the limits of expertise, and why trusting a surgeon or an auto mechanic to have mastery over his craft is different than trusting a scientist with our entire economy based on his or her claimed mastery of whatever it is they do:
http://www.quillette.com/2018/06/04/the-limits-of-expertise/
Hmmm, it seems the link I attached will not post.
I found it but the address is different. No “www” and https. See if this works with tags and just a link.
The Limits of Expertise
https://quillette.com/2018/06/04/the-limits-of-expertise/
that site will connect both securely and unencrypted. The error was the extra www
Wow, they are desperate, they need a captive audience!
An excellent article. It seems so obvious. Why do people make the mistake of thinking they can predict the outcome of chaotic systems? From whence comes their hubris?
When it comes to MBAs, Henry Mintzberg lays the blame at the feet of the schools.
How bad is it?
There is a huge amount of evidence about the limits of expertise. The only people who don’t seem to know about it are the experts. At some point in their education, experts should be explicitly taught their limits and the dangers of hubris.
The human brain is designed to find patterns in the chaos.
The problem is that sometimes you end up finding patterns that aren’t really there. Or you do find a pattern and assume that it will continue, when it can’t.
“Gee, what could go wrong with indoctrinating a bunch of violent psychopaths with ideas that the world is about to end, nobody is listening, overpopulation is part of the problem, you are less likely to get into trouble for committing crimes if you are a climate zealot, and that everyone has to do their bit to help save the world?”
I see this somewhat differently, namely as a transparent effort to gin up an army of muscle.
Like an enforcement arm for the warmista climate mafia.
“…Later in 1914, the Ottoman government influenced the direction the Special Organization was to take by releasing criminals from central prisons to be the central elements of this newly formed Special Organization.[77] According to the Mazhar commissions attached to the tribunal as soon as November 1914, 124 criminals were released from Bünyan prison.[78] Little by little from the end of 1914 to the beginning of 1915, hundreds, then thousands of prisoners were freed to form the members of this organization. Later, they were charged with escorting the convoys of Armenian deportees.[79] Vehib Pasha, commander of the Ottoman Third Army, called those members of the Special Organization the ‘butchers of the human species’.[80]” –Wikipedia Armenian Genocide entry.
Perhaps this experiment should be terminated immediately.
“Re-education camps” is the current euphemism for the Gulag, so the watermelons are just following their culture.
Kelli Bush couldn’t get a real job it seems.
Bank robbers and criminals discovered the benefits of car-sharing long before ecologists started promoting it.
In California they are now allowed to use the decongested left-hand lane to get away quicker.
If this takes off it will end up tarnishing the environmental image.
MattS
It’ll doubtless be their appeal to humanitarianism.
Whilst 120,000,000 people in developing countries will die prematurely by 2050 (32 years away) from conditions caused by burning wood for cooking and heating because they have no access to clean electricity.
Then there’s 2,000,000 who go blind every year, then die prematurely, most of them children, from vitamin A deficiency which can be addressed by allowing them to grow golden rice.
But the prisoners are educated in green ethics, so that’s OK.
If we ever get to bring the people responsible for the activity we have seen in some aspects of Climate Change activism before the courts, I think that they will end up preaching to a large percentage of the already converted…
I say if it keeps the “violent psychopaths” out of the schools
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/06/training-the-next-generation-of-climate-earth-warriors/
It’s all to the good.
James Bull
It does seem a bit shortsighted to take individuals who have demonstrated a lack of concern for the rules that keep us safe and and comfortable, and who have acted in an antisocial, highly self-serving way, and educate them in the climate religion which believe humans are a plague on Earth to be disciplined and contained. A bit too convenient an excuse for future criminal activity.
Teaching Inmates Climate Dogma Helps them “Feel Connected to Something Larger”
Well, sure, many cults make people feel connected, at first.
Will it improve their chances with the kool aid- sipping parole board? Go for it.
Leave it to Uncle Sugar to teach criminals the finer art of the collectivist Grift. There ought to be a law but that would require that the crooked Temple Monkeys block themselves from one of their more lucrative methods of tax transfer payments for profits.
Earlier studies demonstrate that when leftists feel they have earned moral points in the service of a larger purpose they feel entitled to pay themselves back by allowing themselves to commit personal wrongs. NOT a psychological process that we should be inducing in people who have already been jailed for their callousness towards the rights and welfare of others.
“These inmates are learning about climate change
It can help prisoners feel connected to something larger than themselves.”
__________________________________________________
Ghee Whizz; and after training suspainability they go dead man walking.
Obama cares.
Wrong from the beginning to label “birther” on Obama.
The never ending revenge stays “russian collusion”.
correct me where I’m wrong.