CA Law Mandating Indoctrination Of Kids On Climate Takes Effect

Science classes for students in California will feature new additions to the curriculum this year designed to indoctrinate students on climate change through the apocalyptic lens of far-left activists.

Last fall, California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 285 to mandate all science classes for grades 1 through 12 “include an emphasis on the causes and effects of climate change and methods to mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

The California law will be implemented in full this school year.

Former state Democrat Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero told The Federalist she sees the new curriculum mandates as counterproductive. “In my experience this is not about science,” Romero said. “This is really the continuance of an ideology, a dogma. … This is basically Democratic dogma and the environmental coalition are very big donors to the Democratic Party.”

“What they should be focusing on,” added the former lawmaker, who chaired the Education Committee, “is to really take a look on reading and instruction.”

Romero cited failing proficiency scores in core subjects such as math and literacy. According to CalMatters, less than half of California’s students are meeting state standards for math and language arts.

California Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher called the new law “another political agenda program in the classroom [that] is probably not going to help that dynamic.”

“We need to get back to the fundamentals,” Gallagher told The Federalist. “Our kids aren’t reading at grade level so let’s focus on the basics. Let’s make sure they can read first.”

Other states have passed similar laws requiring students to be educated on climate change in ways that sensationalize what Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats have called the “climate crisis.” At least five other states, including Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine, Illinois, and Washington State, have also added climate requirements to school curriculums, according to the Waterfront Alliance, a New York environmental group.

The New York Times’ project titled “Postcards From A World On Fire,” which launched three years ago, captures how Democrats and left-wing activists have catastrophized environmental problems for decades. “Postcards from a World on Fire,” Opinion Editor Kathleen Kingsbury wrote, “makes clear, climate change is already underway. At this point, we can’t stop it.”

The project featured 193 stories, one from each country, to portray a planet undergoing an environmental Armageddon.

But while The New York Times is warning readers the end is near, climate-related deaths have dropped more than 98 percent since 1900, with weather to blame for 0.07 percent of deaths worldwide. That’s after the planet already warmed 1 degree Celsius since the Little Ice Age century of the 1800s.

The bombardment of doomsday climate commentary has meanwhile contributed to widespread environmental anxiety among children. In December 2021, The Lancet published a study from a team of nine researchers, including psychologists, environmental scientists, and psychiatrists, who surveyed 10,000 people aged 16 to 25 across 10 countries about their “climate anxiety” and their governments’ responses to environmental issues. Seventy-five percent reported feeling the “future is frightening,” and 83 percent said humanity “failed to take care of the planet.” The study also reported that nearly half said their “feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning.”

The study also found that fewer and fewer young people are willing to reproduce, reportedly out of fear of climate change. Nearly 40 percent reported that their anxiety about the climate made them “hesitant to have children.” According to a 2020 survey from Morning Consult, one in four childless adults cited climate change as a reason to refrain from having children.

The California law implemented this school year wouldn’t bar a teacher from assigning classwork that contradicts the left-wing narrative around climate change. Romero said such teachers, however, “wouldn’t last in the classroom” considering “the politics of the union.”

“There would be classroom change over the controversy of climate change,” she said.

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.