NORTH DAKOTA, OTHER STATES’ TEACHERS MAY TEACH THEIR KIDS HOW GREAT THE COAL INDUSTRY IS
So that kind of headline is the sort of thing you might expect to see on a satire site, like The Onion. But unfortunately for The Onion and for us, a lot of news in the past year should be satire. Yet it’s real instead. But the idea that schools in North Dakota would have a program to teach their kids to love the coal industry is just, well, crazy. And inappropriate. And while it’s not North Dakota the state itself that is promoting this, it’s still happening. Sure, it’s a gray area, where teachers can have the option to, well, promote coal in their Kindergarten thru High School Senior classrooms.
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SO IN THE REAL WORLD, COAL POLLUTES EVERYTHING, KILLS TODAY, TOMORROW, IN TEN YEARS
So there’s this 3-day Lignite Energy Council Teacher’s Seminar. And a lot of teachers from North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota (of course) and Iowa will attend this thing. And by thing, I mean 3 days of how to convince kids that coal is a great thing. It’s a great industry, it’s not bad for the environment and doesn’t pollute, and is frankly great for plant life. If that sounds like propaganda, well it is. The Seminar has taken place every year except 2020 going back to 1986. This coal friendly seminar run by the Lignite Energy Council, which is a trade association which exists to “protect, maintain and enhance development of our region’s abundant lignite resource.”
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FREE 3-DAY TEACHER SEMINAR INCLUDES LESSON PLANS, TEACHING MATERIALS ON FANTASTIC COAL
And yes, it’s totally free for teachers to attend. But I remember fairly well from grade school science that carbon dioxide was important to plant life. Sigh. But to tout that to kids today? That burning coal is, well, good for the world? And yes, there are teaching materials and even lesson plans for the teachers to take back and indoctrinate their students with. Misleading sales pitches should be the domain of grifters and lobbyists. Hearing that this has been a thing going on 35 years now? As it’s cheaper to create energy from the sun than from power plants burning coal? No so good, folks.
And no, burning coal is NOT good for plants, for you, your lungs or your grandkids water in 20 years. A lump of coal is what you give someone who was VERY naughty at Christmas Time.
