Hundreds of Vancouver students along with their parents and teachers have signed an open letter to Canadian Geographic, alleging the magazine has been sending educational materials sponsored by big oil, particularly the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers or CAPP, to classrooms.
The Energy IQ Program launched in schools this October and the students say the program appears to be highly focused on the oil and gas industry.
“We have our doubts that any program funded by CAPP would focus on types of energy other than oil and gas: this concerns us,” states the letter.
The students are asking that the education system maintains “a progressive perspective” when discussing energy-related issues, and that the Energy IQ Program is not used in schools.
Sophie Yamauchi with Kids for Climate Action said on Unfiltered with Aaron McArthur tonight they consider it “completely inappropriate” to have big oil corporations in the classrooms.
“The issue is not what is present, but what’s missing,” says Yamauchi. “A lot of things are missing from the curriculum. They are not talking about any of the environmental projects. They do mention them in passing, because they have to, but they do not talk about any of the Aboriginal groups or any close communities that are affected by the energy programs in Canada.”
Canadian Geographic has released the following statement to Global News.
“… Canadian Geographic maintains full editorial control of all content created for this program. We are completely transparent about our partnership with CAPP and we are confident our education resources are an unbiased reflection of the realities of energy production and transmission in Canada today.”
Janet Annesley with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says they have an interest in energy literacy.
“Oil accounts for about 50 per cent of the energy that is produced here in Canada. People use oil and gas products every day…Often times, we are bombarded with evidence that people do not understand our industry. We believe that better informed consumers and better informed citizens make better decisions.”
Annesley says the Royal Canadian Geographical Society has an interest in geographical literacy and does not deserve to be accused of propaganda.
The open letter has now been signed by over 600 people.
See the full text of the letter below:
To the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and Canadian Geographic,
We are a group of Canadian high school students writing this letter to formally express our concerns regarding the Energy IQ Program that was launched in schools this October.
The Energy IQ program is of serious concern to us as current high school students, specifically because of its inherent corporate bias and the ideals it will promote. Schools are public places, and therefore should be free of advertisements or promotions of companies, interest groups, and other for-profit institutions. Propaganda has no place in our schools. The content of your program appears to be highly focused on the oil and gas industry, yet it is presented as something that deals with all possible types of energy. When your definition of the tar sands is the verbatim definition used by Oil Sands Today, the message that sends is that you’re there in their interest, rather than in the interest of our future. We have our doubts that any program funded by CAPP would focus on types of energy other than oil and gas: this concerns us.
With the incredible ease that young people have in terms of accessing large amounts of knowledge and information very quickly, we are hopeful that most young people are – if not completely aware of the specifics of the issue – aware of the implications of fossil fuel exploitation. Huge amounts of verified, peer-reviewed scientific data are out there to show that, without a doubt, we should have started reducing our carbon footprint a long time ago. There are very few actively publishing and reputable scientists who believe otherwise, and those who present themselves as skeptics of climate change are usually affiliated with the oil and gas industry in some way. CAPP had a significant role in influencing the Harper government to drop out of the Kyoto Protocol, claiming that people are unwilling to pay carbon taxes. Canada is currently one of the least progressive countries in terms of our resource extractions and our emission reductions, and failing to meet the terms of the Kyoto Protocol by a long shot was yet another major step in the wrong direction. As young people who are taking the issue of global warming and Canada’s position on the issue very seriously, this is incredibly disappointing.
We are aware that CAPP has a history of very questionable, if not outright discountable, ethics. We know that the biggest names in the oil and gas industry today are associated with the exploitation and abuse of Indigenous peoples and their ancestral territories. Families are being pushed out of their homes. Toxic water, air, and soil are all contributing to a huge increase of cancer rates in these regions; we know that lung cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan are double the expected number, and several other cancers are present as well. Traditional resources such as berries and fish are suddenly disappearing. A program in public schools that is funded by multiple corporations who are willing to turn a blind eye to these tragic injustices for profit is completely unacceptable.
We demand that our education system continues to maintain a progressive perspective when discussing energy-related issues. As such, we, the undersigned, ask that the Energy IQ Program is not used at our school.
Sincerely,
Sydney Emo & Sophie Yamauchi,
Windermere Secondary School.
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