The Brainwashing Of America's Children

And wait there’s actually something we can do about this maybe? Our friends at Climate Changemakers have put together a playbook on how to take action: https://www.climatechangemakers.org/p...

Special thanks to Glenn Branch (https://ncse.ngo/) of the National Center for Science Education for his extensive work for the betterment of science education in the US, and for his willingness to help us with fact checking and research for this episode.

And another special thanks to Katie Worth https://www.katieworth.com/ who not only helped us with this episode, but also wrote a book called Miseducation: How Climate Change is Taught in America, which you could buy here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/miseduca...

Want to read a great piece of journalism that was extremely helpful in making this episode? Well that’s gonna be the work of Jie Jenny Zhou (Center for Public Integrity) and Joe Wertz (StateImpact Oklahoma), who collaborated on these pieces about fossil fuel interests in US education: https://apps.publicintegrity.org/oil-... https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/...

Drilled, hosted by Amy Westervelt, did a FULL SEASON on Big Oil and education, called The ABCs of Big Oil (Season 7). Check it out! And then listen to all the other seasons, if you haven’t already:    / @drilledmedia  

And here’s the link to the entire OERB/Dallas Cowboys collab. Come for the oil well safety, stay for the TWO FULL MINUTES of 1990s football highlights: Play it Smart - OERB (1996)  

Sources & Citations

[00:36] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: Petro Pete's Big Bad Dream (2016)

[01:51] The Center for Public Integrity: Oil's pipeline to America's schools (2017)

[01:51] The Walrus: Why Are Oil-and-Gas Companies Developing Lesson Plans for Teachers? (2022)

[01:51] NPR/WNYC: Reading, Writing, and Fracking? What The Oil Industry Teaches Oklahoma Students (2017)

[01:51] HEATED: The fossil Fuel industry’s public school takeover (2020)

[01:59] Slate: How the Oil and Gas Industry Has Broken Climate Education (2021)

[01:59] Katie Worth: Miseducation: How Climate Change is Taught in America (2021)

[02:02] Ohio Natural Energy Institute: Petroleum in the Classroom

[02:17] The Guardian: Two-Thirds of US students are taught climate change badly, study finds (2016)

[02:30] American Petroleum Institute: Destination Earth (1956)

[03:56] Amoco Oil: The Kingdom of Mocha (1973)

[04:20] Exxon/Disney: Mickey and Goofy explore the Universe of Energy (1985)

[05:03] Exxon/James Black: The Greenhouse Effect (1977/1978)

[05:17] Edison Electric Institute: Information Council for the Environment Test Market Ad Materials (1991)

[05:34] American Petroleum Institute: Draft Global Climate Science Communications Plan (1998)

[06:11] Exxon/Joseph M. Carlson: The Greenhouse Effect (1988)

[06:33] Arkansas Energy Rocks! Website (Accessed 2023)

[06:37] Arkansas Energy Rocks!: Oil and Natural Gas in your Life: At The Pump

[07:00] Ohio Natural Energy Institute: Crude Oil Word Search

[07:00] Ohio Natural Energy Institute: Everyday Petroleum Products

[07:05] 7 News Boston: “Your Invisible Friend”: Parents outraged by pro-gas booklets made by Eversource used in Mass. school (2021)

[07:25] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: About

[07:27] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: History

[07:37] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: Annual Report (2022)

[07:47] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: Play It Smart (1996)

[09:00] The Washington Post: With state budget in crisis, many Oklahome schools hold classes four days a week (2017)

[09:08] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: Little Bits: An Elementary Earth Science Curriculum (2013), with annotations from Jie Jenny Zhou, as part of their work for The Center for Public Integrity (2017)

[10:02] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: Boomer Burrow: Home Clean Home

[10:55] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: Core Energy Social Studies: A High School Social Studies Curriculum (2013), with annotations from Jie Jenny Zhou, as part of their work for The Center for Public Integrity (2017)

[11:50] Oklahoma Energy Resources Board: Lab Time with Leo, Various Episodes

[12:17] Bill Nye the Science Guy: Season 3, Episode 11: Waves

[13:18] The Oklahoman: OERB brings energy learning to next generation with K-12 workshops (2016)

[13:55] Planters: Mr. Peanut’s Guide to Nutrition (1970)

[14:06] Dr Pepper: Teen-Age Parties (1965, 1977)

[15:33] Scientific American: Subverting Climate Science in the Classroom (2022)

[16:17] DeSmog: The Heartland Institute and the Academy of Tobacco Studies (2009)

[16:25] The Guardian: Leak exposes how Heartland Institute works to undermine climate science (2012)

[16:28] The Heartland Institute: Proposed Budget (2012)

[17:07] NASA: Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index (Accessed 2023)

[17:49] Yale Climate Connections: How Reliable are Satellite Temperature? (2016)

[18:05] The Heartland Institute: Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming (2015 original, 2016 re-print)

[18:19] Sen. Cruz Opening Statement at Climate Science Hearing (2016)

[18:44] Inside Climate News: Science Teachers Respond to Climate Materials Sent by Heartland Institute (2017)

[18:54] Frontline/PBS: Climate Change Skeptic Group Seeks to Influence 200,000 Teachers (2017)

[19:01] The Washington Post: A political organization that doubts climate science is sending this book to 200,000 teachers (2017)

[19:01] Teen Vogue: The Heartland Institute Sends 300,000 Teachers Books and DVDs Rejecting Evidence of Man-Made Climate Change (2017)

[19:31] The Guardian: Big donors ditch rightwing Heartland Institute over Unabomber billboard (2012)

[19:31] Mongabay: Heartland Institute losing major corporate sponsors after comparing climate change advocates to mass-murderers (2012)

[19:31] The Guardian: Heartland Institute grows isolated as three more donors disassociate (2012)

[20:36] NCSE/Texas Freedom Network: Making the Grade? How State Public School Science Standards Address Climate Change (2020)

[20:59] NCSE: New state science standards in Indiana (2022)

[21:08] NCSE: New state science standards in Pennsylvania (2022)

[21:08] Penn Live Patriot-News: Pa. commission approves updated science standards for K-12 students (2022)

[22:29] NCSE/Penn State University: Mixed Messages: How Climate Change is Taught in America’s Public Schools (2016)

[23:09] Next Generation Science Standards (Accessed 2023)

[24:00] WBUR: Eversource leaves the American Gas Associationto focus on ‘decarbonization’ (2023)

[24:13] Miami New Times: Report: 350+ Books Banned in Florida School Districts (2023)

[24:13] The Washington Post: Georgia teacher fired after reading book on gender to fifth-grade class (2023)

Episode Credits

Host, Head Writer, Editor: Rollie Williams

Executive Producers: Rollie Williams & Ben Boult & Matt Nelsen & Nicole Conlan

Writer: Matt Nelsen

Director: Matt Nelsen

Cinematographer: Ben Boult

Assistant Editor: Laura Conte

Production Assistants: Christine Grobelny, Taissia Lomako, Milton Vargas

Animator: Ian MK Cessna (https://ianhasawebsite.com/)

Theme music by Gratis (   / @gratis3241  )

Special thanks to the Civil Liberties Defense Center (https://cldc.org/) for their support

Copyright Climate Town 2025. All rights reserved.