Rally at IDCEO: Tell them to Stop Selling Coal in the Classroom!
CHICAGO:
Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 11:45 am
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph (NW Corner, Randolph and Clark).
Contact: Lan Richart, Eco-Justice Collaborative
SPRINGFIELD:
Thursday, May 3, 2012, 12:30 pm
SE Corner of Monroe Avenue and 5th Street
Contact: Brian Perbix, Prairie Rivers Network or Terri Treacy, Illinois Chapter Sierra Club
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s (IDCEO) Coal Education and Marketing Program is using taxpayer money to push coal on our kids – right in their classrooms! IDCEO puts out “From the Coal Mines to the Power Lines”, which looks like a legitimate curriculum, but is actually a publicly funded marketing tool for the coal industry that disgracefully targets schoolchildren.
What You Should Know
- In its materials, IDCEO tries to pass coal industry talking points off as fact – including the outright falsehood that “the evidence is not clear that the combustion of fossil fuels has led to a warming climate”.
- Absolutely no mention is made of coal’s devastating and well established impacts on our land, air, water and health in Illinois and around the world.
- Instead of acknowledging the transition to cleaner, cheaper alternative energy sources that is already underway, IDCEO attempts to pull the wool over children’s eyes, insisting that coal is the fuel of the future.
As the school year is coming to a close, we will be delivering a report card on how well IDCEO is serving Illinois’s kids … their progress is not looking good!
Sound Familiar?
One year ago Scholastic Inc. was the target of a New York Times exposé revealing that the publisher of children’s reading materials had teamed with the American Coal Foundation to distribute curriculum materials that gave children a one-sided view of coal. Days later, under pressure from national groups such as Rethinking Schools, the publisher stopped distributing the curriculum.
Join us on May 2nd (Chicago) and May 3rd (Springfield) for a rally in support of honest, science-based education! Together we will call on IDCEO to end the coal curriculum and Rend Lake Coal Education Retreat for teachers.
For more information visit Heartland Coalfield Alliance or Eco-Justice Collaborative. And be sure to sign our petition!
