Climate Action
Portland Public School Board On the Right Track With Climate Education
May 20, 2016
Removal of materials that deny climate change should be implemented nationwide
For Immediate Release May 20, 2016 Washington, DC – This last week, the Portland (OR) Public Schools board unanimously approved a resolution designed to eliminate doubt surrounding climate change and its root causes throughout the schools under their jurisdiction. Earth Day Network supports the efforts in Portland to ban climate-denying materials from schools. The Network also applauds Bill Bigelow from ReThinking Schools and the other environmental groups that worked to present a resolution to stop the fossil fuel industry from diluting the scientific fact of climate change presented in school textbooks. “The decision by the Portland Public School Board is a step in the right direction, but it cannot stop there. Climate education and environmental literacy can no longer be an option. They need to be the standard in order for our future decision-makers, politicians, scientists, engineers, and world leaders to be able to make scientifically informed decisions about the consequences of climate change,” explained Dr. Karena Mary Ruggiero, Director of Education at Earth Day Network. “Portland is setting a great example, but now the entire state of Oregon needs to step up, and then Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, and so on. We can no longer allow the fossil fuel industry to influence what is taught in our classrooms, particularly when climate change denial threatens the integrity of science education on a larger scale.” The resolution also directs the public schools to develop an implementation plan for “curriculum and educational opportunities that address climate change” in all Portland Public Schools. “Earth Day Network has begun a campaign for universal environmental and climate literacy. It is our mission to ensure that students around the world understand the long-term impacts of their actions and chose to be environmental stewards, not individuals with no responsibility for what happens to the Earth,” said Earth Day Network president Kathleen Rogers. “This is the planet our children and grandchildren are inheriting. They deserve to know how it got this way and understand their role restoring sustainability.”###
About Earth Day Network
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network (EDN) works with tens of thousands of partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. For more information, visit archiveedn.wpengine.com