Next frontier in Fla. education wars: Climate

Climate change has entered Florida’s battle over education.

The state approved classroom videos that reject the reality of global warming, writes Scott Waldman.

The materials — produced by the conservative Prager University Foundation and geared toward grades K-5 — compare climate activists to Nazis, falsely claim that wind and solar power pollutes the planet, and wrongly dismiss record heat waves as natural weather variations.

PragerU, which bills itself as “the world’s leading conservative nonprofit,” has received millions of dollars from the billionaire brothers Farris and Dan Wilks of Texas, who made their fortune in oil and gas fracking. It has also received funding from foundations that oppose climate regulations such as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

The move by Florida’s Department of Education to approve the videos marks a win for Republican Gov. and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, who — like leaders in a number of GOP-led states — has aggressively sought to reshape curriculum in African-American history, LGBTQ+ issues and climate science.