How should teachers handle the global warming debate? How should they present the competing prerogatives of development and conservation to their students? Who is telling the truth about these issues? And who isn't?
MPI president Frayda Levy and executive director Rob Pfaltzgraff reflect on these issues in an op-ed published this week in the The Examiner:
A Seattle-area school district made headlines recently when it placed limits on teachers who wish to assign former Vice President Al Gore’s Oscar-nominated documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”The board ruled that teachers need permission from the school superintendent before they can show the film, and that they must balance Gore’s message with an opposing view.
The decision was met with criticism and disbelief. Laurie David, one of the film’s producers, issued a statement saying “There is no opposing view to science, which is fact, and the facts are clear that global warming is here, now.”
But the Federal Way School Board was right. “An Inconvenient Truth” does not tell the whole truth about the environmental movement, and students should not be taught that it does. For instance, much of Western environmentalism is hostile to people living in underdeveloped parts of the world.
That is the message of “Mine Your Own Business,” a new documentary by Irish journalists Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney. The film was co-produced by the Moving Picture Institute, where we are directors.
While “An Inconvenient Truth” urges Westerners to drive less, recycle and conserve energy, MYOB describes how Western environmentalists are trying to prevent the world’s poorest people from enjoying the amenities others take for granted.
Gore’s film argues that the costs of unchecked Western consumption are more than the planet can bear. MYOB suggests that the costs of Western environmentalism are similarly high.
MYOB investigates the darker side of environmentalism. The film examines the controversies surrounding proposed mining sites in Romania, Madagascar and Chile to see how environmental campaigns have affected the world’s poorest people.
Over and over, McAleer spoke with environmentalists who declared that indigenous people neither wanted nor needed investment from mining companies — that they would rather preserve their traditional lifestyles and humble homes.
But when the filmmakers talked to the people themselves, they found overwhelming support for the mines. In Romania, Madagascar and Chile, the people longed for good jobs, decent schools, and quality health care. They understood that their villages would die without the investment mining companies would bring.
“I have come across a lot of tragedies and hard-luck stories as a journalist,” McAleer has remarked, “but I had never covered a situation where the solution to poverty is being opposed by educated Westerners who think that people really are ‘poor but happy.’”
Despite the setback in Federal Way, Wash., the producers of “An Inconvenient Truth” are working hard to get the film into American classrooms. Already, 50,000 DVDs of Gore’s film have been produced to provide free copies to any teacher who asks.
So “An Inconvenient Truth” will be making its way into American science classrooms after all. If some have their way, it will be required viewing here, just as it already is in Norway and Sweden.
There’s nothing wrong with showing Gore’s film in schools. But teachers should be making sure that students know the whole story. They should make students aware that the environmentalist movement has a dark side all its own.
There is no excuse not to do so.
As Gore's film gains momentum--which the Oscar race will no doubt ensure--it's crucial for teachers and school administrators to remember that his story is only part of the story, and that the whole truth cannot be told merely by showing students An Inconvenient Truth.