Why is Oil Giant BP Helping Develop California Schools Environmental Curriculum?

[G_j]

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/10/why_is_oil_giant_bp_helping

Why is Oil Giant BP Helping Develop California Schools Environmental Curriculum?


Should an oil giant responsible for the worst spill in US history play a role in what public school children learn about the environment? Well if you’re in California, there’s a good chance they will. BP has helped develop the new environmental curriculum for California’s public schools. The curriculum will be taught to over six million pupils in some 1,000 districts. BP employees were part of a state-appointed team that crafted the program’s "guiding principles.”

JUAN GONZALEZ: Should an oil giant responsible for the worst oil spill in U.S. history play a role in what public-school children learn about the environment? If you’re in California, there’s a good chance they will. BP has helped develop a new environmental curriculum for California’s public schools. The curriculum will be taught to over 6 million pupils in some 1,000 districts. BP employees were part of a state-appointed team that crafted the programs’ guiding principles. Even before the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, BP had one of the worst safety records of any major oil company operating in the United States. Over the past five years, the company paid more than $370 million in fines to avoid prosecution after admitting to breaking environmental and safety laws.

AMY GOODMAN: In spite of all that, California state officials included BP on the technical team for the soon-to-be completed environmental education curriculum. Dubbed the Education and The Environment Initiative, the state’s curriculum project was launched in 2003 and has so far produced more than 13,000 pages of teaching material about the environment for K-12 science, social studies, and history courses. Lisa Graves is with us now, executive director for the Center for Media and Democracy. She’s been tracking the story – she’s joining us from Madison, Wisconsin. Lisa, talk about the environmental curriculum of California and how BP got involved.

LISA GRAVES: It is very interesting. I think this is an example of how BP, until the oil spill, has been so successful at greenwashing. It’s actually one of the number one greenwashing companies form the oil company perspective, ever. They managed to turn their Beyond Petroleum logo and their millions of dollars in donations into becoming a "stakeholder" according to the California Department of Education, in educational policy in California.

..more..

[MisterP]

1. I recall my HS enviro science unit on nukes to be full of odes for the safety and cleanness of

nuclear power, plus the TMI judge's ruling that nobody was harmed, and that the cancer spike was a fluke; the teacher didn't say much during this unit, unlike the other units where he was quite vocal (for the environment)

[G_j]

2. nothing to see here...

:mad:

[Tsiyu]

3. "Connect the dots..

La la la la"


Crosspost:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9118565&mesg_id=9118565

[NYC_SKP]

4. I'm very familiar with the curriculum, EEI, and it's online for all to read...

Certain units were piloted in schools beginning in 2006, it's posted online now.

The Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) Curriculum Famed naturalist John Muir captured the vital importance of education about the environment when he said, "Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe." Imagine the possibilities if that understanding began, for students, as early as Kindergarten and continued through high school. With the Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) Curriculum, that vision is well on the way to becoming a reality.

Field-tested in Kindergarten to 12th grade classrooms from San Diego to California's North Coast, the 85 EEI Curriculum units cover selected academic content standards in both Science and History-Social Science. Each EEI Curriculum unit is designed to teach one or more standards to mastery.

The State Board of Education (SBE) unanimously approved all 85 EEI Curriculum units. With SBE’s stamp of approval, the 85 curriculum units are now undergoing the final revisions to incorporate the feedback and recommendations provided by teachers, content specialists, and SBE Members. Revisions to the EEI Curriculum units will be completed in Fall 2010.

The Final Draft EEI Curriculum units will remain posted while revisions are underway. As EEI Curriculum units become final, the draft versions are being replaced with final versions.

The Teacher’s Editions of the EEI Curriculum are password protected. To obtain the password to open these documents please complete the web form below.

http://www.calepa.ca.gov/Education/EEI/Curriculum/Default.htm

I haven't stumbled on whatever parts might have been corrupted by BP, if any, but I'd love to know if someone's found any.

The Democracy Now piece wasn't very specific about there being any bias in any of the specific units or passages.

:shrug: