The American education system is encountering a growing array of issues. We’re seeing a decline in test scores, shifts to remote learning during the pandemic, and rising tensions between teachers and the public regarding gender ideology.
Yet, according to a former teacher, there’s another significant concern at play: climate extremism is seeping into our schools, spreading radical views among students. This prompted the Department of Justice to step in.
Having spent years teaching, I’ve witnessed how deeply ingrained climate ideology has become in our classrooms.
Fortunately, action has been initiated. In May, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against four states, accusing them of improperly using public funds for climate-related lawsuits. Attorney General Pam Bondy labeled this lawsuit as “motivated by ideological burdens.” Alarmingly, this indoctrination is occurring right in our public school classrooms.
If the Trump administration is genuinely aiming to eliminate taxpayer-funded climate extremism, the next step seems apparent. We need to investigate how climate ideology is infused into our educational framework, which is often based on fear and pseudoscience.
K-12 Classroom Insights
Let’s take a look at what’s unfolding in New York City. In the summer of 2024, Columbia University collaborated with New York public schools to host a four-day workshop for teachers titled “Integrating Climate Education in New York Public Schools.” The name says it all—the workshop emphasized incorporating climate alarmism into lesson plans.
Subsequently, a reporter visited a public school in the Bronx, where teachers were found reading about floods in Africa with students. When asked about the cause of these floods, an eight-year-old responded, “carbon.”
In 2020, New Jersey made headlines by becoming the first state to mandate climate change education from kindergarten onward, featuring even light dance activities to “examine global issues, including climate change.” This integration extends across various subjects, from computer science to physical education.
Other states are also looking to weave climate change into their curricula. For example, California’s Congressional Bill 285, passed in 2023, requires teachers to instruct students from first grade onward about the causes, impacts, and adaptations related to climate change.
But this isn’t science—it’s political conditioning masquerading as education.
From my teaching experience, I can confirm that climate ideology has become deeply enmeshed in our education system. What’s happening is more about indoctrination than education, and it’s proving to be highly effective.
University Experience
After my time in K-12, I transitioned to university teaching, and it was eye-opening. Many of my freshman students genuinely believed their lives would end within their lifetime, which often left them feeling emotionally paralyzed. They were hesitant to engage with differing viewpoints or even hear alternate opinions. Out of frustration, they often found it easier to just not engage at all.
Even the slightest pushback left my students feeling confused, which seemed to stem from years of indoctrination starting at a young age.
The phenomenon of climate-related anxiety is so widespread that psychologists have coined the term climate anxiety. For instance, the New York Times reported about a woman whose fear of climate change even impacted her daily activities like eating nuts.
She often imagined leaving her home only to end up in a landfill.
In 2021, the first major study on climate anxiety revealed that many young children globally are affected by this distress. Over half of those surveyed expressed feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger, or guilt regarding the climate, with a staggering 75% perceiving their future as frightening.
Renowned universities like Yale and Harvard are now addressing this climate anxiety, attempting to offer students some form of therapy. But isn’t this akin to an arsonist acknowledging that fires are likely while just buying more hoses? Climate anxiety is a direct outcome of convincing children that an impending apocalypse is unavoidable.
Time for Change
While it’s essential to teach children environmental stewardship, I was raised in a time when we learned about recycling and respecting nature. However, what we see today extends beyond caring for the environment—it’s all about instilling shame and fear.
The Department of Justice should broaden its inquiry into the actions of public education administrators, educational curriculums, and activist groups that foment climate panic in classrooms. Climate extremism is not acceptable as a government policy, nor should it be treated as truth in our children’s education.
It’s time to put an end to fear-based tactics, dismiss indoctrination, and bring common sense back into our schools.
