Did you know that at least 39 oil and gas companies are involved in funding and developing K-12 education across Canada, including climate education for kids?
How can we let the biggest drivers of the climate crisis be part of educating our kids about climate?
The fossil fuel industry has a vested interest in making sure our kids don’t understand climate change, one of the biggest issues affecting their generation, as well as undermining our urgent transition off of fossil fuels, all while profiting from the climate crisis.
For Our Kids and CAPE’s recent report “Polluting Education: The Influence of Fossil Fuels on Children’s Education in Canada” details the influence of the fossil fuel industry on our education system. We found that many oil and gas companies and industry organizations are either supplying climate education materials to schools or funding third-party non-profits who provide climate education.
Download the Report:
Additional Resources:
How does this affect our kids’ climate education?
Many of these materials are examples of what researchers call “petro-pedagogy” and use one of the following strategies:
- The “bias-balanced” approach – framing any climate education without industry perspectives as unfairly biased
- Greenwashing – providing misleading emphasis on the climate-friendly actions of the oil and gas industry
- Presenting falsely positive or misleading representations of the industry’s relationship with Indigenous people
- Focusing on individual consumer actions instead of systemic change
- Promoting often unproven “innovative” technologies rather than a rapid energy transition
What can we do?
Many of us are shocked to find out that oil and gas companies are deliberately exerting influence on K-12 climate education.
We know that teachers and schools are doing their best to provide quality education to students, but we need policy-based solutions and leadership from decision makers.
Take action as a teacher, parent or student using the tools provided below!
