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Now
Several weeks ago I was contacted by
Laurie David and her surrogates at the Natural Resources Defense
Council regarding the National Science Teachers Association's
(NSTA) refusal to distribute 50,000 free "An Inconvenient
Truth" DVDs on climate change. Lacking fluency in Hollywood
environmental circles led me to ask, "Who is Laurie David?"
For years, as a grassroots activist, I have written about the
corporate landslide of dishonest education materials in our needy
public schools. We at the Native Forest Council here in Eugene,
Oregon have tried to engage the "Big Green" environmental
groups to attend NSTA conferences to combat industry's propaganda
machine, or help us fight the battle through funding: on both
accounts, I have failed. A phone call from Laurie David was manna
from heaven: finally, the Big Greens were waking up to the manipulation
of children and reaching out to us "little folks" who
fight environmental battles daily. Seemingly my jubilation was
premature and sheepishly I may have been just a "means to
an end."
When asked, grassroots groups
do what grassroots group's do: we help, immediately. When I was
first contacted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC),
I was told that Laurie David was penning a piece for the Washington
Post on the issue we have fought long and hard to expose. The
Post needed egregious examples of industry's most blatant "miseducation"
tools for numbing children to environmental concerns. I shipped
out coloring books from the coal industry showing coal being
"cleaned", glossy brochures from Exxon that would put
a happy face on the Valdez catastrophe, and the American Petroleum
Institute's "hip hop" petroleum love-fest. I learned
of Laurie David's dedication to fighting climate change and that
she is married to a Hollywood mogul. She has access to the public's
eye we could have never imagined. Her "high profile"
account of the NSTA's colossal error to distribute Al Gore's
revolutionary tale of impending climate havoc would literally
blow the lid of this critical expose of industry's quest to teach
children lies. While never made privy to the private conversations
between NSTA's Executive Director Gerald Wheeler and Ms. David,
my job was to provide the NRDC and Ms. David with as much historical
information I had collected over the last ten years.
A promising
phone call and a sour email
The Washington Post piece was
published on 12/2/06 and I followed up the next day with my own
take on the issue in Commondreams.org and Truthout.org with a
follow-up piece on 12/13/06 in Truthout.org. Grassroots' activists
depend on two conduits to environmental successes: getting the
word out and inspiring "common folks" to join the fray.
The outpouring of emails from angered teachers and dismayed parents
jamming my computer has been breathtaking. Hundreds of individuals
emailed Gerald Wheeler imploring and chiding him to sever his
ties with ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, Weyerhaeuser and Monsanto. Requests
for curriculum ideas and lasting words of encouragement have
kept me up for hours each night: a Grassroots' response means
a personal letter with a gracious words of thanks and "if
you need any help let me know" protocol.
Having received numerous follow-up
letters meant the story was now a wild fire and we at the Native
Forest Council could raise the money to attend the NSTA's conference
in March 2007 in St. Louis. Ms. David's stature and high profile
piece in the Post graciously included references to our efforts
and seemingly was bringing years of toil to expose dishonest
corporate curriculum to fruition.
Not only was the story getting
covered in papers, blogs and websites across the country, I had
a commitment to attend the NSTA from a new and unlikely friend.
Early in this whole drama, Laurie David called my home. She spoke
passionately of fighting the NSTA's ties to those who actually
downplay climate change like ExxonMobil and heaped praise on
my efforts over the years. Using terms like "hero"
she referred to the importance of my work. The call culminated
with her promise of a "date" at the NSTA conference
in St. Louis and I told her that I would be honored. Finally,
the Big Green machine would ride shotgun with grassroots activists
who fight day in and day out. I could engage the 12,000 plus
teachers who will attend the St. Louis conference and supply
them with the truth about corporate lesson plans but more importantly
provide them with curriculum ideas about climate change. My wife,
Trish, told me that she admired my preference to "stay on
the sidelines," but urged me to take a more visible role.
My role, I explained was to get climate change materials into
the hands of millions of students and I neither wanted my name
in lights or acclaim. I wrote emails to the NRDC and Ms. David
outlining what we would need to make a splash at the NSTA conference.
An abrupt and coldly worded email from Laurie David ended our
"foray" to the NSTA without explanation yet, it was
unambiguously clear:
"John I have been as open
and clear as possibleI am not interested in sending you to the
convention or supporting it in any way."
For the record, I asked for
$10,000-15,000 to attend the NSTA convention. Mind you, a 10'
by 10' space (you must rent everything: from chairs to table
covers) alone is several thousand dollars. What we lacked in
economic prowess would be overcome by the current blitz of publicity
and the boundless energy we would bring to this convention. Right
in the belly of the beast amongst Weyerhaeuser and Monsanto mega-displays
we could provide a simple truth: you cannot deny climate change
science and by all means, we are not going to allow you to lie
to our students and go unchallenged. With the backing of Ms.
David and the NRDC, we imagined that "common folks"
who read the story would be compelled to act. And act they have:
we have received offers for free housing in St. Louis and promises
of small checks. Yet, we find ourselves in a quandary, unless
those small checks come in by the hundreds, some would let this
story fade. In March the purveyors of dubious curriculum will
peddle their "Madison Avenue style lessons" as teachers
fill their bags with industries' freebies and bring them back
to implement as "science" back at their schools. Some
times numbers put issues into perspective. A $15,000 request
from the NRDC is a pittance. Their operating budget for FY 2005
was over $65 million! To spearhead this trip would cost a mere
0.025% of their war chest. Spokespeople for Ms. David told me
that the NSTA story was over and it was time to move on to "bigger
issues." How could the education of 55 million students
be a "done story" and with millions of those students
at or near the cusp of voting age, this is the most influential
generation of decision makers that will or will not prevent a
climate change tipping point. Simply put, if Laurie David had
a change of heart: why not just say so? There is an old east
coast practice: don't think too much about the "possibilities"
if so, you might hex yourself. Some old beliefs die-hard and
I can't say I wasn't hurt by Ms. David's email.
Did I fail the "fool me
once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me you" rule?
Raised in a blue-collar town
in New Jersey, minutes away from the bowels of the most industrialized
stretch of earth on the planet, I was ingratiated into the rules
of life by simple and loving people. I was taught the cardinal
rule of reaching out where you never use the mantra, "you
owe me." You do for people, because it is the right thing
to do. Grassroots environmentalists are akin to the blue-collar
types I worked with as a young man doing ironwork. They give
without hesitation and prefer the "support role" rather
than the limelight.
With a young family in tow,
we moved to Oregon (1990) quickly finding ourselves immersed
in the Ancient Forest battles. Here I learned the dichotomy and
hierarchy between grassroots and the established Big Greens like
the Audubon Society or the National Wildlife Federation. I testified
in the United States Senate on behalf of protecting Opal Creek,
a magnificent old growth forest that purifies Salem Oregon's
water and is one of the few, protected success stories in the
battle to rescue forests in the Pacific Northwest. My ticket
to Washington D.C., cost over $900, and no Big Green organization
would help offset the cost, but my wife gave me the okay to pay
with "plastic." Thank goodness a local activist dipped
into his bank account so I could tell my story in front of the
Senate. I befriended a forest activist named Michael Donnelly
and he summed up for me the strange divide between Big Greens
and the grassroots:
"My best first-hand experience
of it all as former VP of the ONRC (Oregon Natural Resources
Council) was when we tried for years to get the Big Greens to
help with the plight of Northwest ancient forests. They told
us, we would like to help, but, it is a regional issue; not a
national one.' So, we increased our efforts and worked to nationalize
the issue. Once we did that, around 1988, the Big Greens showed
up in force. What we got was: getting rudely pushed aside and
then surrender of the famous Injunction (Judge Dwyer's ruling
to protect millions of acres of Spotted Owl habitat) that had
stopped ancient forest logging. In a complete capitulation to
President Clinton, the Big Greens sat back as political compromise
called Option 9 resumed logging: 40 % of the protected native,
old growth forests. The Big Greens called that our greatest victory.'
Maybe for them anyway-for fund raising potential and for applying
a slick coat of green wash for the Clinton/Gore Administration."
You see, once before, a phone
call said one thing and meant another. The National Audubon has
been bamboozled by corporate education. They endorse Project
Learning Tree, funded by their pimp daddy organization, the American
Forest Foundation (a list of the worst clearcutters on earth).
Not content with their forest education by omission (ignore lessons
on clearcuts, the fragmentation of habitat, short rotation forestry)
PLT would later conspire with the American Petroleum Institute.
And teach what you ask: they would teach the merits of petroleum
based products and simply ignore any substantive discussions
on climate change.
I joined an email Chat group
back in January 2001. Hoping to engage Audubon members to speak
out against corporate curriculum, I struck pay dirt on 1/8/02.
John Biachi, Director of Communications for Audubon, read an
email about Audubon's aiding and abetting of the timber industry's
agenda and posted a simple email:
"Audubon does not support
Project Learning Tree. I'm not sure why there has been multiple
postings to the contrary, but they're wrong. Audubon does not
endorse PLT. We recommend against its use in Audubon Centers.""John
Bianchi
Besieged by angry emails and
embarrassed by the truth, Bianchi went into denial mode and even
ignored his own posting. I called him in New York City and he
told me that he knew of PLT's big timber tendencies, yet, he
could not alienate paying Audubon members who supported PLT?
For some reason, I became the pariah as if I had spoken for Bianchi.
Audubon refuses to remove PLT from its list of "credible
environmental curriculum" and endorses PLT's energy module
with climate deniers such as the American Petroleum Institute.
As for John Bianchi, he denies that he had that conversation
with me. Once again, phone conversations that said one thing,
apparently mean something else in this new world of "environmental
organizational semantics." I confessed to the Executive
Director of the Native Forest Council Tim Hermach, that I had
been duped again. He asked if I would stop helping people, like
Laurie David and I simply stated, "No."
"At some point you must
realize that the grassroots need the help of folks like you.
I appreciate the work the NSTA issue" (My final response
to Ms. David's email)
Am I mad at Laurie David? I
would say, now in retrospect, I am more sad than mad. Her organization
is trying to get the "Inconvenient Truth" DVD to teachers.
Teachers can apply for a free copy at: http:/www.participate.net/educators/
This is a good thing and I
hope many teachers make the request. Apparently, a deal for Al
Gore and Ms. David to speak in St. Louis in March (NSTA) fell
through. I was never consulted on the inner workings between
Mr. Wheeler and Ms. David.
I am thankful for the 200 DVDs
her organization finally shipped to me. Trish gave me a fifty-
dollar bill to buy a gift for our daughter's Jill and Jenna gifts,
instead, I used it to mail out DVDs to people who have emailed
about receiving copies of Gore's production. My girls' understanding
about the issue was their holiday gift to me.
I forward ed the surrogates
of Ms. David some pearls of wisdom as a teacher of 26 years and
a common, simple man of some five decades: make sure you write
personal notes to people who contact you. I also told them that
one DVD is not going to change the climate crisis, but a start.
The showing of an "Inconvenient Truth" is still of
vital importance. Maybe, Ms. David and former vice-president
Gore will fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle?
Critical data that the public
needs to see front and center: who will expose the fossil fuel
cartel's slobbering at the trough of taxpayer's monies? Who will
shatter the all too cozy relationship between industry and government?
Will we take steps to avert a climate change tipping point? We
will enact carbon taxes or even better, carbon allotments? Will
the NRDC and Ms. David and her Hollywood ilk hold the fire of
environmental concerns to the feet of big name Democrats? Neither
Al Gore nor John Kerry ran their presidential bids on a climate
change platform. Will high visibility celebrities engage the
Big Greens to be bolder? Yes, the NRDC and Ms. David have celebrated
Kyoto type legislation like the McCain/Lieberman Climate Stewardship
Act, a sponsored bill that would start in 2010. Emissions would
be capped at 2000 levels; in 2016, the cap would be reduced to
1990 levels. Yet, this is not daring enough: we need a bill that
would cut global warming emissions 60 or even 80%. When asked
why his group, the Environmental Defense, why wasn't offering
solutions more dramatic than Congress has thought up, Executive
Vice-president David Yarnold replied, "Why would you want
to lobby for something that can't get done?" We need the
Big Greens to not be politically pragmatic or expedient: we need
visionaries like Rachel Carson or David Brower.
And who will go to the NSTA
and fan that firestorm of rejecting an Inconvenient Truth? Who
will spread sound and real climate curriculum for thousands of
teachers while educating them to reject and refuse to use industries'
lies? Grassroots groups like ours toil in anonymonity, tirelessly
protecting our children's forests and the lungs of the earth.
These tasks at times seem gargantuan but the human spirit can
accomplish miracles, I tell teachers that "you" are
changing the planet, one student at a time. Why has environmental
education been ignored by almost every big environmental group?
That must change, now.
Every penny sent to our Honest
Education Campaign will be spent on teachers and their students.
Will we raise the needed funds for St. Louis? I will keep you
posted and I hope the next piece I can write is about a foray
to St. Louis. Who knows, I might even get a call from the Big
Greens, asking about what they can give.
John F. Borowski, teacher of 26 years and education
advisor to the Native Forest Council can be reached at jenjill@peak.org.
He thanks citizens nationwide
for writing the NSTA. The Native Forest Council will try to attend
the NSTA conference in March 2007.
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