The powerful oil lobby organization American Petroleum Institute, API, has found a clever way to indoctrinate American school kids with oil propaganda. This has been revealed by investigative journalists at Rolling Stone in partnership with Drilled. API is a content partner for STEM Careers Coalition by Discovery Education, a company that produces educational materials currently used by half of all U.S. classrooms.
Part of this education material is a lesson plan titled “A Day Without”, intended for the 3-5 grade level. It instructs teachers to explain to their classes how petroleum and natural gas provide most of the energy kids use in their day-to-day lives, from “charging my computer” to “making popcorn in the microwave.” “Tell the class that in 2020, petroleum powered 90 percent of the country’s transportation,” the teacher instructions read.
However, it conveniently forgets to mention that fossil fuel use is the main driver of the climate crisis. It also fails to mention anything about the exponential buildout of renewables around the world, and that these sources of energy are both cleaner and cheaper than their fossil fuel alternatives. It also fails to mention all the health and environmental benefits that comes from phasing out fossil fuels.
At the end of the lesson, students are encouraged to either write an essay or create a drawing of life without natural gas and petroleum. “Now that you know where this energy can come from, imagine if these energy sources didn’t exist!” the handout reads. “What would your life be like?”
At the bottom of the “A Day Without” lesson plan, there is a logo from the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil and gas industry’s main lobbying organization, with a long history of promoting climate denial.
Since Discovery Education uses a version of the familiar Discovery logo several teachers told Drilled that they trust Discovery Education. However, this company has no longer any finanial ties to Discovery Inc., which merged with Warner Bros. in 2021.
The STEM Careers Coalition states that its intent is to bridge “industry and classrooms at an unprecedented scale.” According to its own web site the resources are accessed by “6.7 million teachers and students,” with a goal of increasing those numbers to 10 million by 2025. Boeing, Procter & Gamble, and chemicals giant DuPont and LyondellBasell are all listed as “Signature Partners” of the initiative. Among the listed Content Partners, whose “expertise” is applied in creating STEM materials hosted on the site, are American Petroleum Institute, Chevron and the Manufacturing Institute, the nonprofit arm of the National Association of Manufacturers, a lobbying group infamous for relentless climate obstructing and anti-climate lobbying. Learn more:
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
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29 w
Not good at all
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34 w
Not ok at all. Thanks @markus for showing this
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35 w
Absolutely disgusting! 🤢🤮
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35 w
Horrible and despicable!! 👿👿👿
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36 w
This is unbelievable! Sneaking oil propaganda into classrooms is a terrible attempt to mislead kids about the climate crisis.
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36 w
This is a concerning attempt to sway young minds and shape perceptions on environmental issues. This type of lobbying in educational settings is highly problematic and warrants scrutiny and action to protect the integrity of the curriculum.
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36 w
How despicable. By infiltrating classrooms with biased curriculum, the oil lobby stifles critical thinking on renewable energy and perpetuates reliance on fossil fuels, hindering environmental progress and conservation efforts crucial for addressing the climate crisis.
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36 w
Their misleading ways and information especially to young minds should be stopped by all means.
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36 w
@patrick_kiash This is classic misinformation, trying to get them when they're young and to shape their minds to accept fossil fuels as a norm and an okay thing which it ain't. It's like cult recruitment at this point
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36 w
@munene_mugambi very true,and more so very dangerous.
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36 w
This disinformation to new generations and will lead to bad situations in our planet we should stop it
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36 w
@haitham_salih it's why they put so much money in their Marketing & PR(read propaganda) divisions. With the aim of affecting decision making of young people to tow the big oil line.
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36 w
Dear Markus Lutteman Your climate warning has received over 50 agrees! We have reached out to API - American Petroleum Institute by email and requested a response. I will keep you updated on any progress! To reach more people and increase the chance of a response, click the Share button above to share the review on your social accounts. For every new member that joins We Don't Have Time from your network, we will plant a tree and attribute it to you! /Adam, We Don't Have Time
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36 w
this system is a whole new mess
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36 w
That's so messed up but I'm sadly not even surprised...
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36 w
This is absurd, shame on AIP. Stop poisoning the minds of the students
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36 w
This is nothing short of manipulation...Such a prime example of corporate greed at its worst, and it's high time we put an end to it.
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36 w
This is absurd, sad to see such information passed to the younger generation which in turn will hurt the environment with a great impact.
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36 w
This is a whole new level of climate villainy ⚠️⚠️
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36 w
Very smart and sneaky
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36 w
I don’t believe in the Devil, but pernicious stuff like this makes me wonder