THE E-FILES           NUMBER EIGHT           APRIL-JUNE, 2001

THE SUBJECT OF THIS E-FILE IS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION.

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION? "Environmental Action," one curriculum developer, says it can be called "a way of teaching that makes connections between science, technology, economics, policy, people, and the environment" (www.enviroaction.org/enviroed.html). To the public school student, environmental education means discussions of fossil fuel depletion; overpopulation; ozone layer damage; vanishing rainforests; poisoned air, soil and water; endangered species; global warming; overflowing landfills; and urban sprawl. These topics are covered in textbooks and are often integrated into many subject areas (thus one nickname for New-New Math, "Rainforest Math.") Students take field trips to beaches and forests, make art out of recycled trash, and write letters to elected officials. Modern society may be put "on trial." "We were supposed to learn about science, but it's political too" said one 5th grader about weekend nature camp ("Brave New Schools", Berit Kjos).

SOME HISTORY PERTINENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION:

"SILENT SPRING" by Rachel Carson can be said to have started the environmental movement in the classroom in 1962. It was assigned reading in many high schools. Many people are unaware that in 1962,"Silent Spring" was, and continues to be criticized for flawed science and emotionally charged writing. Many scientists criticized the book. Ornithologist Dr. Gordon Edwards has critiqued "Silent Spring"; see www.oism/ddp: "An Educational Atom Bomb", Newsletter of 11/94, Vol. XI, # 6). In "Since Silent Spring", by Frank Graham, Jr., a defender of Carson, Graham wrote: "She knew that her book must persuade as well as inform; it must synthesize scientific fact with the most profound sort of propaganda." The emotional tone of the book was disliked by many but was effective. Environmental writers subsequently wrote in highly dramatic terms. Reed Irvine of Accuracy in Media recently wrote: "Silent Spring" was not only junk science, but it is also responsible for the loss of millions of lives in tropical countries that quit using DDT to kill the mosquitoes that transmit malaria. DDT has been described as the greatest life-saving chemical discovered by man. It was banned in this country after lengthy hearings that found that it was not a carcinogen and that it posed no threat to human health. The decision to ban it was a political decision, not based on scientific evidence. There is no reason to believe that the ban has saved a single human life. It is estimated to cost a million to 2 million lives a year in India alone." (AIM Report, 4/23/01). Scientist James L. Moore noted recently, "Silent Spring was bad literature and bad science; yet it provided the political "reason" for creation of the EPA."

"REPORT FROM IRON MOUNTAIN ON THE POSSBILITY & DESIRABILITY OF PEACE", a 1967 book, is said to be a "leaked government study produced by a special brain trust of 15 Insiders who met at a secret facility at Iron Mountain, New York. Their daunting task was to come up with a substitute for war that would provide the same 'stabilizing' function…Report From Iron Mountain examined a number of possible "alternative enemies" which might be used as a substitute for war during a time of peace. It said, "One exception might be the environmental-pollution model, if the danger to society it posed was genuinely imminent. The fictive models would have to carry the weight of extraordinary conviction…It might be…that gross pollution of the environment can eventually replace the possibility of mass destruction by nuclear weapons as the principal apparent threat to the survival of the species." While some claim the report was a hoax, J.K. Galbraith, writing under a pseudonym, said it was truthful (The New American, Special Report, 1997).

"THE POPULATION BOMB" by Dr. Paul Ehrlich, published in 1968, also was widely required reading in high school and college classrooms. Many high school students watched films about the population explosion in biology class. "Population Bomb" was written to terrify: "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970's the world will undergo famines-hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." The book was among the first to talk of the "carrying capacity" of the earth. Ehrich wrote "The U.S. cannot stand isolated" from the rest of the earth. "We must have population control at home, hopefully through a system of incentives and penalties, but by compulsion if voluntary methods fail. We must use our political power to push other countries into programs which combine agricultural development and population control." Subsequently, population control was made the basis of our foreign aid; funds to third world nations depend upon recipients' use of contraceptives, sterilization, or abortion. Much has been written to refute the overpopulation claim: www.informinc.co.uk/LM/LM71/LM71_Futures.html; www.Africa2000.com; www.pop.org; and Kasun articles at www.independent.org.

'THE ENVIRONMENTAL HANDBOOK PREPARED FOR THE FIRST NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL TEACH-IN, APRIL 22, 1970" edited by Garrett De Bell, was used on the first Earth Day. "This handbook brings together students, writers, and others to focus on some of the major problems. It does not stop there-it suggests action that can be taken right now in any community." Earth Day celebrations are part celebrations of nature, part political activism. April 22, Earth Day, is Lenin's birthday.

"THE GREENING OF AMERICA", by Charles Reich, 1970, a huge bestseller, was dedicated to the students of Yale, but written for their parents. "Greening" described a "revolution of consciousness" that the book used to explain the attitudes of then-current crop of college students: "Freedom from outmoded economic and political doctrines, freedom from oppressive institutions…Freedom that is expressed in every metaphor of the new consciousness, long hair, a new way of walking, the ocean and the open road…if we think of all that is now challenged-the nature of education, the very validity of institutionalism and the legal system, the nature and purposes of work, the course of man's dealing with environment, the relationship of self to technology and society-we can see that the present transformation goes beyond anything in modern history. Beside it, a mere revolution, such as the French or the Russian, seems inconsequential-a shift in the base of power. Moreover, almost none of the views we have mentioned recognizes the crucial importance of choosing a new life-style." Environmental literature still uses terms such as "revolution" and "transformation".

"THE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ACT OF 1970 established an Office of Environmental Education in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to award grants for developing environmental curricula and training teachers. Congress moved the office to the newly formed Department of Education in 1979" (Congressional Research Service, www.cnie.org/nle/gen-8.html).

"THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING MEETING ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM (organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' Commission on Education under the sponsorship of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization-UNESCO), in 1970 adopted the following definition of environmental education: 'Environmental education is the process of recognizing values and clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the interrelatedness among humans…culture, and…biophysical surroundings. Environmental education also entails practice in decision-making and self-formulation of a code of behavior about issues concerning environmental quality'," (Earth Island Journal, Fall 1998).

WHAT IS THE INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES (IUCN), named in the previous paragraph? We should be aware of this powerful group, AKA, the World Conservation Union. According to Henry Lamb, "it was created in 1948 by Julian Huxley, the same man who founded UNESCO. IUCN is the primary NGO (non-governmental organization) that produced the World Wildlife Fund as a public branch to raise money to fund the activities of the IUCN. These two groups share international headquarters in Gland, Switzerland, and together they created the World Resources Institute in 1982. These three NGOs are the driving force behind the global environmental agenda. The IUCN is called upon by UNESCO to evaluate biosphere reserves and World Heritage sites, among other things, and wrote the draft for the Convention on Biological Diversity and first proposed its adoption in 1981. Through its International Law Center, it has a draft form of a Covenant on the Environment and Development, the international treaty to codify in hard law Agenda 21…The document has been in preparation since 1989…is 205 pages, with 79 articles, and it provides a whole new enforcement regime to the UN if and when it is presented for ratification. The U.S. Secretary of State donates $1.2 million per year as an NGO. Almost nobody knows about it. It would require ratification by the U.S. Senate. The Covenant on the Environment and Government would instantly turn into hard, legally binding law, all the stipulations of Agenda 21…" President Clinton's Executive Order 12986 exempted the IUCN from ALL CIVIL LIABILITY. In "Global Greens: Inside the International Environmental Establishment" (highly recommended for its clear explanation of NGOs and the global conferences) author James M. Sheehan said that the IUCN is "an umbrella organization of private groups and government agencies that comprises approximately 450 members." (www.capitalresearch.org). These include the EPA, U.S. Forest Service, Department of Interior, National Park Service, World Bank, etc.

OF JULIAN HUXLEY OF UNESCO, it was noted in a preface to his book "Man in the Modern World" (1948): "Indeed he conceives the major role of the scientist today as that of planner, and of world government by experts in the fields of technology rather than by politicians…This revolution is the first in which scientific knowledge and conscious planning is able to play a part. History is being made at a greater speed than ever before, and if we are willing to make the effort, we who live in this revolution have the privilege of helping history." Meanwhile brother Aldous, author of 1932's "Brave New World", wrote in "The Double Crisis": "In all too many cases, the thing we call progress is merely an acceleration in the rate of exploitation…prosperity as we have known up to the present is the consequence of rapidly spending the planet's irreplaceable capital. Overpopulation and erosion constitute a Martian invasion of the planet…we continue to live on our planet like a swarm of destructive parasites…we condemn ourselves and our children to misery and deepening squalor…"

"THE LIMITS TO GROWTH: A REPORT FOR THE CLUB OF ROME'S PROJECT ON THE PREDICAMENT OF MANKIND", 1972 (Meadows, Meadows, Randers and Behrens) was another book widely assigned in classrooms. Full of charts and graphs, the book was the report produced by M.I.T scientists who used a computer program that predicted the complete "social and economic collapse" of civilization unless "drastic changes are made very soon." It noted that the scientists were seeking a model for a world system that would be "sustainable without sudden and uncontrollable collapse" and "capable of satisfying the basic material requirements of all of its people." It recommended deliberate constraints on growth of population and industrialization, and called for government control over economic growth, resource use, and energy consumption. The book was dedicated to the founder of The Club of Rome, Dr. Aurelio Peccei (now deceased), a wealthy Italian industrialist and New Ager (see E-File Number Five, New Age Education http://www.e-files.org/archive/edition5.html). The Club of Rome is a mysterious, largely unknown organization thought to be very powerful. "Conspirators' Hierarchy: The Story of the Committee of 300" by John Coleman, 1992, contains information that, if true, is quite alarming: that the object of the "fake 'environmentalist' movement" by the Club was "to blunt and turn back industrial development" and, through its Anglo-American financiers, to "create and manage savage economic recessions and eventual depressions." Another source is a book called "The First Global Revolution" published by the Council of the Club of Rome, by Alexander King and Bertrand Schneider, 1991, Pantheon Books, p. 115: "In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine, and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers were caused by human intervention. The real enemy, then, is humanity itself."

THE UN CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT was held in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden, chaired by Maurice Strong, a wealthy Canadian industrialist. After this conference, the U.S. established the Environmental Protection Agency, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 114 other governments created national environmental ministries. The UN created its own environmental agency, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), of which Maurice Strong served as first executive director. Maurice Strong is omnipresent at UN and other global conferences. At www.etexere.com/whereonearth find a description of his recent book, "Where On Earth Are We Going?" According to writers Peter Jones and Tal Brooke, Strong is a "new age billionaire, author of the Earth Charter with Mikhail Gorbachev, and Under Secretary General of the UN, and charged with Kofi Annan to rewrite the reorganization of UN operations for the third millennium. Strong is an employee of the Rockefeller and Rothschild trusts….He is co-chairman of the World Economic Forum that meets in Davos every year. Strong has a 70-acre New Age ranch in Colorado, called "an international spiritual community" ( www.scp-inc.org). Dr. Stan Monteith says Strong is the Club of Rome's "best-known spokesman." Green Cross International was co-founded by Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev (www.gci.ch/). See also www.globaleduc.org/rwocont.htm about Maurice Strong.

ABOUT THE 1972 ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE, Sheehan noted, "the developing countries of the Third World did not welcome environmentalist victories…. Governments in Asia, Africa and Latin America wanted to utilize their natural resources. They were afraid that the international environmental lobby would stymie their efforts to use their resources to strengthen their economies and raise living standards, and they resented what they regarded as patronizing and colonialist environmentalist demands."

BUCKMINSTER FULLER WAS AN INFLUENTIAL 'THINKER' READ BY COLLEGE STUDENTS. His "Earth, Inc." was published in 1973. In "Ten Proposals for Improving the World", Fuller called for an "Education Revolution: The Highest Priority of All", "Conversion of World Accounting System," "Elimination of Property by Making Ownership Onerous," "World Democracy by Electronic Referendum," "Elimination of All World Sovereignties," "Realization of Design Science Competence," "Identification of Mathematical Coordinate System of Universe", and other grand ideas.

TEXTBOOKS FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS OF ECOLOGY/ ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE were published in the 1970s with titles such as "Living in the Environment: Concepts, Problems, and Alternatives," by G. Tyler Miller, Jr. (Wadsworth Publishing, 1975). This book contains topics such as Earthmanship Man in a Global Tribe, The Environmental Crisis as a Crisis in Human Values, Redistribution of Wealth as Ecosphere Shares, Bringing About Change: Projecting Alternative Futures, and How to Write Your Congressman. The first issue of concern was overpopulation.

"THE CITIZEN'S POLICY GUIDE TO ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: THE UNFINISHED AGENDA: A TASK FORCE REPORT SPONSORED BY THE ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND", edited by Gerald O. Barney, 1977, was a report of the members of The Environmental Agenda Task Force. Members were from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, The Wilderness Society, Zero Population Growth, National Wildlife Federation, Massachusetts Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, Izaak Walton League of America, National Parks and Conservation Association, National Audubon Society, and Sierra Club. The report discussed the use of Public and Private Lands and Land-Use; The U.S. Role in Protecting the Global Ecosystem; National Planning; Technology Control; Educating the Public, and other topics. While most environmental groups began as sincere grassroots efforts for conservation, many have since become funded by wealthy tax-exempt foundations and are used as vehicles to garner international power and influence. (www.undueinfluence.com) In 1997, Western Journalism Center reported: "Patrick Moore, founding member and former director of Greenpeace for 15 years, testified before a congressional subcommittee in support of logging. Moore said: "much of the environmental movement has been hijacked by extremist activists who use the language of the environment for a movement that has more to do with class struggle and anti-corporatism" (Holly Swanson, "Set Up & Sold Out: Find Out What Green Really Means", 1995. Swanson compares tactics used in environmental education to those used in the Hitler Youth movement in the 1940s.)

MAY, 1977: PRESIDENT CARTER directed the Council on Environmental Quality and the State Department to study the world's population, natural resources, and environment. The Study Director for the report, "Global 2000", issued at 700+ pages, was Gerald O. Barney. (A follow-up report called "Global 2000 Revisited" prepared by Barney for the Millenium Institute reveals Barney's New Age outlook when he wrote, "Every person must learn to think like Earth, to act like Earth, to be Earth").

IN 1980, THE IUCN RELEASED "WORLD CONSERVATION STRATEGY: LIVING RESOURCE CONSERVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. "This was the first major work to promote a new concept-"sustainable development."…(it) also requires large wealth transfers from industrial to developing nations….global wealth redistribution." (Global Greens, Sheehan, pg. 14-15).

THE GLOBAL POSSIBLE CONFERENCE was held at Wye Plantation in Maryland, May, 1984, sponsored by the World Resources Institute, was attended by about 80 representatives of NGOs, tax exempt foundations, corporations, universities, and government agencies, including Maurice Strong, Robert O. Anderson (ARCO and Aspen Institute), Lester Brown (Worldwatch Institute), and Kenton Miller (then director of the IUCN). These men discussed how to manage the world's resources. About the conference sponsor, it was noted by James Sheehan that "Organizations like the World Resources Institute are already well-funded by large foundations. (It was set up with a $15 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 1982.) Any action that empowers the United Nations is likely to empower them. Far from taking "non-governmental roles, they aspire to be extensions of a global governance system they have helped create." (Henry Lamb said that World Resources Institute was funded by other sources as noted previously.)

IN 1989 "THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CAREERS" was produced by The CEIP Fund, issued by Island Press, funded by Apple Computers and a large group of foundations including the Ford, Hewlett, MacArthur, Mellon, Rockefeller Brothers, Kaplan, Joyce, and Pew Charitable Trust, and others. The book's preface notes: "CEIP, formerly The Center for Environmental Intern Programs, has become the largest on-the-job trainer for environmental careers in the country, placing college students and recent graduates in short-term, paid professional level positions with corporations, consultants, government agencies and nonprofit organizations." Thus there is the merging of the environmental and school-to-work programs (see E-File Number One on STW http://www.e-files.org/archive/edition1.html).

1990: THE NEW NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ACT was signed into law by President Bush. According to www.sierraclub.org/education/neea1990.asp, "It mandates that EPA make environmental education a priority through various activities administered by its Environmental Education Division." The Congressional Research Service notes, "The Act authorizes EPA to work with educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, the private sector, tribal governments, and state and local environmental agencies to educate the public about environmental problems and encourage students to pursue environmental careers…" (www.cnie.org/nle/gen-8.html).

JUNE, 1992: THE EARTH SUMMIT IN RIO DE JANEIRO was held. The Secretary-General was Maurice Strong. Sheehan wrote: "From this event came a number of major documents: The Rio Declaration, proclaiming "sustainable development" as the foundation of international environmental policy; Agenda 21, a blueprint outlining proposed governmental actions to implement sustainable development; Framework Convention on Climate Change, a treaty to curb emission of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases"; and Convention on Biological Diversity, a treaty to protect the habitats of all living species, manage ecosystems, and to protect genetic resources by regulating scientific research and use of biotechnology."

RESEARCHER JEANNIE SODERMAN did a complete reading of the 1140 page "Biodiversity Assessment Report" that came out of Agenda 21. She noted that ICLEI, the International Committee of Local Environmental Initiatives is the group empowered to implement Agenda 21 worldwide. Soderman compiled a list of the things that were named "unsustainable" in the report. Some of these are: automobiles, modern farm production systems (no use of machines is allowed), irrigation, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, farmlands, rangelands, pastures, fish ponds, plantations, forestry, urbanization, impervious surfaces, fisheries, grazing of livestock, disturbance of the soil surface, large hoofed animals, industrial activities, plastic production, synthetic products, the use of machines, CFCs, technology improvements, natural gas production, cemeteries, sewers, drain systems, pipelines, private property, land use that serves human needs, human made caves of brick and mortar, concrete and steel, paved and tarred roads, highways and trails, railroads, floor and wall tiles, aquaculture, dams, reservoirs, straightening of rivers, power line construction, golf courses, scuba diving, modern hunting, picking of berries, ski runs, fossil fuels used for driving various types of machines, building materials, synthetic drugs, population growth, convenience foods. Soderman has a list in which each of these page-referenced. (Interview with Joan Soros, re: Sustainable Development, www.radioliberty.com).

THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY and the Global Biodiversity Assessment Report also call for "the conversion of 'at least 50% of the land area in the United States to be converted to wilderness, off limits to human beings. An additional 25% of the land area is to be designated as 'buffer zones' that are to be managed collaboratively. People are to relocated into "sustainable communities," the design for which is presented in the President's Council on Sustainable Development report, "Sustainable America: A New Consensus." (www.wildlandsproject.org).

BACK TO THE STUDENTS IN THE CLASSROOM: If environmental education classes are to be truthful and balanced, students should be told honestly the meaning of "sustainability" (feudalism). Students should know that scientists are not in agreement about many claims by environmentalists. They should understand why property owners, especially in rural areas where livelihoods depend on ranching, farming and logging are being forced to fight for their property rights when government agencies claim their activities threaten endangered species. Parents and teachers can use the book, "Facts, Not Fear: A Parent's Guide to Teaching Children About the Environment" by Michael Sanera and Jane S. Shaw to learn the facts. Older students should be able to understand that very wealthy and powerful interests are driving the international global conferences, not grass roots individuals, and that these interests have ulterior motives that are not as benevolent as they appear-i.e., containing the growth and development of Third World countries so they remain less powerful, and taking of property from Americans to limit their freedom and wealth. Since the same powerful interests are directing the education of public school students around the world (www.unesco.org/education/tlsf) it will be up to parents and other interested adults to teach students the truth. Some soul-searching about how much you and your students value freedom, the right to own property, etc. might be in order-since these are truly threatened. These values are not incompatible with loving nature.

FURTHER INFORMATION SOURCES ON THE WEB: On environmental science and enviroeducation: www.junkscience.com; www.sepp.org; www.nhes.com; www.heartland.org; www.marshall.org; www.oism.org; www.cei.org; www.co2science.org; www.independent.org/archive/environment.html; www.palletenterprise.com/Fossil_Bill/fbbody.htm; www.perc.org/envedviews.htm; www.globalwarming.org; www.greeningearthsociety.org; www.anxietycenter.com; www.fee.org/education/research.html#Environment; www.crossroad.to/; www.capitalism.org/faq/environment.htm; www.capitalism.org/earth; www.rppi.org; www.objectivescience.com; www.sitewave.net/news; http://earth4man.com; www.aynrand.org/medialink/environ.html; www.capitalism.net (see "Environmentalism Refuted" article); www.nationalcenter.org/eptf.html (see links too); www.fumento.com; www.discerningtoday.org; www.newaus.com.au; www.cato.org; www.acsh.org; www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/2001/february/article1.asp. On global conferences (including the many since Rio conference) and sustainability: www.womensgroup.org; http://sovereignty.freedom.org; www.ecofreedom.org; www.americanpolicy.org; www.accountabilitynow.net/greenout/index2.html; http://themustardseed.home.mindspring.com; www.green-watch.com; www.freedom.org; http://unisevil.com. Some property rights groups: www.nodarbyrefuge.org; www.mtmultipleuse.org; www.takebackarkansas.org; www.landrights.org; www.prfamerica.org; www.klamathbasincrisis.org. Media Research Special Report about news reporting on global warming: www.mediaresearch.org/specialreports/fmp/2001/globalwarming.html.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE.