Ban Fossil Fuel Promotion in BC Schools

In over 2,000 classrooms province-wide, the FortisBC Energy Leaders curriculum is teaching children that natural gas is a “clean-burning fossil fuel” and a renewable alternative to coal and gas.

FortisBC’s curriculum is certifiably false.

Scientists consider natural gas a major driver of climate change. In fact, natural gas is on par with coal due to emissions that escape in its extraction process. And not only does FortisBC’s curriculum lie about the devastating climate impacts of natural gas; it also side-steps any discussion of viable energy alternatives like wind or solar, and skips over the devastating health impacts of fracking on communities in B.C. and abroad.

The FortisBC curriculum is being peddled to overworked B.C. school teachers via work emails and trade shows, many of whom lack up-to-date educational resources on our province’s energy. This is a system failure.

The climate crisis is here, and its impacts are undeniable: destructive flooding, deadly forest fires, and unprecedented heat waves. With the clock ticking down, our education system should be teaching our kids about ways to tackle the climate crisis—not make it worse. The fossil fuel industry has no place in B.C. classrooms.

We join with CAPE (Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment), who released an open letter this week signed by over 100 health, educator, student, environment and community organizations, to end fossil fuel promotion in the province’s schools. [3]

The B.C. government is already feeling the heat—but a massive petition could ramp up the pressure and force them to permanently ban corporate-created curriculum. Sign the petition now!

SOURCES
[1] https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/sailing-nowhere-liquefied-natural-gas-report.pdf
[2] https://cape.ca/action/ban-fossil-fuel-promotion-in-bc-schools/
[3] see [2]