November 29, 2005

Open Letter to Gerald Wheeler and NSTA
(for background information see) Would the World's Largest Science Teacher's Organization Ignore Climate Change Education?

Mr Wheeler and NSTA:

When the largest science teachers association chooses to refuse 50,00 free videos about the most important environmental issue of our time—arguably the most important issue of our time, period—after happily accepting all kinds of outright propaganda from fossil fuel companies, what is the effect on the teachers who come to the meetings looking for free teaching materials? What is the effect on the students who sit in these teachers’ classrooms? And finally, what is the word for the leaders of this organization, who made the choice to deny students balancing information in a time of increasing crisis—because they can get more money from the fossil fuel companies with a stake in business as usual? I can’t answer the first two questions; I’m not a teacher. But I am good with words, and I can supply the answer to the last question. Those who sacrifice their organization’s mission for the sake of money are prostitutes. Some use the word “whores,” and there are other choices, but I think we can stick with the most basic word: prostitutes.

Mary Wildfire