The Most Disturbing Thing I've Read In a Long Time

I haven't posted in over a month, as things have been rather crazy at work. But today I read this article that, apparently, is going to appear in tomorrow's Washington Post, and I had to share. It is really, really disturbing.

It is written by Laurie David, a producer of Al Gore's global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth (which, if you haven't seen it, you really ought to. It's on DVD now, and it's fantastic).

[T]he company that made the documentary decided to offer 50,000 free DVDs to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) for educators to use in their classrooms. It seemed like a no-brainer.

The teachers had a different idea: Thanks but no thanks, they said.

In their e-mail rejection, they expressed concern that other "special interests" might ask to distribute materials, too; they said they didn't want to offer "political" endorsement of the film; and they saw "little, if any, benefit to NSTA or its members" in accepting the free DVDs.

Gore, however, is not running for office, and the film's theatrical run is long since over. As for classroom benefits, the movie has been enthusiastically endorsed by leading climate scientists worldwide, and is required viewing for all students in Norway and Sweden.

Still, maybe the NSTA just being extra cautious. But there was one more curious argument in the e-mail: Accepting the DVDs, they wrote, would place "unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters." One of those supporters, it turns out, is the Exxon Mobil Corp. (emphasis added)

Exxon Mobil, as it turns out, isn't the only big corporation involved. Shell, API and Monsanto (among others) all give money to the NSTA, and so all of them are able to influence what American children are taught in science class. The details, which David describes, are really disgusting.

You can read about it here.