Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Sparks

The School Fight Over Climate Change Is Growing

Texas’ Board of Education is voting on whether to “promote’’ fossil fuels in schools.

A teacher and students.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Fights over school curricula have become issues du jour, and today officials in Texas are voting on what kids in that state will read about climate change in their school textbooks. The problem, according to the AP, is that the textbooks in their current form are “too negative towards fossil fuels.”

Wayne Christian, a member of the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees oil and gas in the state (you thought it was going to be trains, didn’t you?), is pushing the Texas State Board of Education to “choose books that promote the importance of fossil fuels for energy promotion.” Board member Aaron Kinsey, a Republican and an oil executive himself, seems to like that idea, saying that the photos in textbooks right now are too negative towards oil and gas.

Democrats and educational groups, meanwhile, are trying to push the board in the other direction. The National Science Teaching Association sent a letter to the board urging them not to “allow misguided objections to evolution and climate change impede the adoption of science textbooks in Texas.” Republicans have a majority on the board, however, so the outcome of the vote is fairly easy to predict.

Texas is just the latest state to be embroiled in an argument over how to present climate change to schoolchildren. Back in August, the state of Florida approved the use of videos made by The Prager University Foundation (PragerU) — a conservative group backed by fracking billionaires that pushes out right-wing “educational content” and tried and failed to sue YouTube for restricting its videos — in state classrooms. Kids in that state can now be treated to a teacher playing videos that extol the benefits of coal and plastic, for example, or state that wind and solar power are simply not powerful enough for modern energy needs.

This is all part of a large conservative playbook to push back against “woke” ideas like critical race theory and climate change. In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin created a hotline for parents who detected critical race theory in their kids’ classrooms. An Indiana bill prohibits teachers from discussing "anti-American ideologies,” but doesn’t define what those ideologies are. The so-called “don’t say gay” law in Florida bans classes about sexual orientation or gender identity through third grade. And across the country, conservative activists are wielding book bans to excise content they deem unacceptable.

In an FAQ on its website, PragerU makes clear that it “is not an accredited university, nor do we claim to be.” New Hampshire and Oklahoma have both also approved PragerU content for use in their schools, as a result of intense lobbying by the company. Next in its sights? Texas.

Green

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Sparks

Rhizome Raises $6.5 Million for AI Grid Resilience

The company will use the seed funding to bring on more engineers — and customers.

Power lines.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As extreme weather becomes the norm, utilities are scrambling to improve the grid’s resilience, aiming to prevent the types of outages and infrastructure damage that often magnify the impact of already disastrous weather events. Those events cost the U.S. $182 billion in damages last year alone.

With the intensity of storms, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires growing every year, some utilities are now turning to artificial intelligence in their quest to adapt to new climate realities. Rhizome, which just announced a $6.5 million seed round, uses AI to help assess and prevent climate change-induced grid infrastructure vulnerabilities. It’s already working with utilities such as Avangrid, Seattle City Light, and Vermont Electric Power Company to do so.

Keep reading...Show less
Blue
Sparks

Don’t Look Now, But China Is Importing Less Coal

Add it to the evidence that China’s greenhouse gas emissions may be peaking, if they haven’t already.

A Chinese coal worker.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Exactly where China is in its energy transition remains somewhat fuzzy. Has the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases already hit peak emissions? Will it in 2025? That remains to be seen. But its import data for this year suggests an economy that’s in a rapid transition.

According to government trade data, in the first fourth months of this year, China imported $12.1 billion of coal, $100.4 billion of crude oil, and $18 billion of natural gas. In terms of value, that’s a 27% year over year decline in coal, a 8.5% decline in oil, and a 15.7% decline in natural gas. In terms of volume, it was a 5.3% decline, a slight 0.5% increase, and a 9.2% decline, respectively.

Keep reading...Show less
Blue
Sparks

Rewiring America Slashes Staff Due to Trump Funding Freeze

The nonprofit laid off 36 employees, or 28% of its headcount.

Surprised outlets.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The Trump administration’s funding freeze has hit the leading electrification nonprofit Rewiring America, which announced Thursday that it will be cutting its workforce by 28%, or 36 employees. In a letter to the team, the organization’s cofounder and CEO Ari Matusiak placed the blame squarely on the Trump administration’s attempts to claw back billions in funding allocated through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

“The volatility we face is not something we created: it is being directed at us,” Matusiak wrote in his public letter to employees. Along with a group of four other housing, climate, and community organizations, collectively known as Power Forward Communities, Rewiring America was the recipient of a $2 billion GGRF grant last April to help decarbonize American homes.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow