The coal industry, through the American Coal Foundation, has hired Scholastic to produce “The United States of Energy,” teaching materials designed to paste a smiley face on the world’s dirtiest form of energy. Scholastic sent the materials to tens of thousands of 4th grade classrooms around the country.

Teachers are told that the curriculum aligns with national standards because it teaches children the advantages and disadvantages of different types of energy. But while the lessons do extol the advantages of coal, they fail to mention a single disadvantage. Nothing about the Appalachian mountains chopped down to get at coal seams. Nothing about the poisons released when coal is burned. Nothing about the fact that burning coal is the single biggest contributor to human-created greenhouse gases.

Schools should teach fully and honestly about coal and other forms of energy. However, the materials Scholastic produced are not genuinely educational; they are industry PR. Please take a moment to urge Scholastic CEO Richard Robinson to stop promoting coal in elementary school classrooms.

For more information on the problem with Scholastic teaming-up with Dirty Coal, pls visit http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/coal

Also, consider writing your own letter to tell Scholastic asking them to stop pushing coal on schoolchildren. If you are a mommy blogger, please blog on this issue and make sure you tell Scholastic how big your audience is. Together, we can put a stop to this insidious relationship. Really, Scholastic should be ashamed of themselves!

My letter is below.

Cheers, Cherise

Dear Mr. Robinson,

You are promoting coal in your books? This is an outrage. Coal kills thousands of children every year. Don’t believe me? Check out Physicians for Social Responsibility’s website. Thus I am writing to urge you to immediately end Scholastic’s partnership with the American Coal Foundation to promote coal in elementary school classrooms.

We regularly order books thru your program, but we will stop and I will encourage all the parents at our school and all the members of Utah Moms for Clean Air, of which I am the President, to boycott your company until you do so.

Teachers, parents, and children trust Scholastic because of its reputation as an educational publisher, but you are abusing that trust. “The United States of Energy” curriculum materials, which were distributed to tens of thousands of elementary teachers, teach only what your paying client wants children to learn. They don’t encourage students to think objectively about coal—and therefore do not belong in schools.

I urge you to stop distributing “The United States of Energy” and to refrain in the future from producing marketing materials that masquerade as an educational curriculum.

Sincerely,

Cherise Udell
Mother to Sophia (7) and Ella (4)
President, Utah Moms for Clean Air
www.utahmomsforcleanair.org

What is clean air? In the words of just a few of the 80 inspiring Clean Air Ambassadors who came to Washington, D.C. last week to defend our right to breathe:

“Clean air is something I dream of for my children.”

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While some politicians in Washington, D.C. are working to dismantle our nation’s clean air protections and make it easier for polluters to pollute, Earthjustice helped to bring these inspiring citizens—doctors, nurses, faith and tribal leaders, and community advocates (including Utah Moms for Clean Air) from all 50 states—to speak truth to power.

They shared their stories with our government, and they shared them with us. Now, we want to share them with you.

These are stories that need to be heard. They are a testament to why we need clean air and the price that we are paying without it. Read the stories of the ambassadors from Utah and spread the word by sharing them through Facebook, Twitter and email.