How many of you feel comfortable with oil giant BP teaching your children about the environment? By Rick Daysog
BP, the energy giant responsible for the largest offshore oil spill
in history, helped develop California's framework for teaching more than
6 million students about the environment.
Despite a mixed environmental record even before the
Gulf of Mexico disaster, state officials included BP on the technical
team for its soon-to-be-completed environmental education curriculum,
which will be used in kindergarten through 12th-grade classes in more
than 1,000 school districts statewide.
Environmental watchdogs and
some experts who worked on the project said BP's involvement is
troubling given its handling of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, which
killed 11 workers and dumped more than 200 million gallons of oil into
the Gulf of Mexico.
"I'd hate to see how a section in future textbooks mentioning the
BP oil spill will look," said Lisa Graves, executive director for the
Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy, a critic of so-called
"greenwashing" techniques by corporations to make their products appear
eco-friendly.
"I think it's very worrisome because their fundamental goal is to profit from energy and not to teach children," Graves said.
Officials
with the California Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the
curriculum project, said BP had a minor role in its early planning
stages and was just one of dozens of stakeholders from a diverse range
of interests.
Andrea Lewis, Cal EPA's assistant secretary for
education and quality programs, said the bulk of work on the curriculum
was done by specialists whose content was peer reviewed by outside
experts.
BP declined comment on its involvement.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/07/100175/bp-helped-in-californias-environmental.html#storylink=cp
No comments:
Post a Comment