NCSE's Ann Reid, Glenn Branch, and Steve Newton contributed a guest commentary discussing the Heartland Institute's mailing of climate change denial material to teachers to the blog of the Union of Concerned Scientists (April 12, 2017).
"This wasn't Heartland's first unsolicited mailing of climate change denial material to science teachers, and judging from the reactions we've seen, teachers haven't been fooled by this outing," they wrote, adding, "But here is how we're advising science teachers to explain why using these materials in any science classroom would be a terrible idea."
They then briefly listed five points: "Virtually every assertion is false, controversial, or at best unclear"; "Heartland represents what is, at best, a fringe position in science"; "Heartland even disparages the well-respected, Nobel-Prize-winning, IPCC"; "Heartland's material contradicts standards, textbooks, and curricula"; and "Heartland's citations are shoddy and its tactics dishonest."
"In the end," they concluded, "the climate change deniers at the Heartland Institute have no scientifically credible evidence of their own, leaving them with no option but to lash out at the real scientific literature, contributing nothing except vitriol, achieving nothing except confusion. Science teachers know better — and science students deserve better."
Consulted about the Heartland mailing by Frontline (March 28, 2017) and InsideClimate News (April 10, 2017), NCSE is in the process of developing information for concerned teachers — and happy to accept donations to help it to do so.