Highway to myths

Melissa Poe

The anti-environmental education movement has used a number of "horror stories" to support its claims.  But, as is usually the case, these stories do not hold up when closely examined.  One of the most famous stories is of Melissa Poe and her letter to President George Bush.  The story has appeared in a number of newspapers, and in the book Facts not Fear by Michael Sanera and Jane Shaw (Endangered Education page 17).  This is how Facts not Fear told the story (page 4):

Melissa Poe, the nine-year old founder of Kids FACE is also worried about dying. She concluded a letter to former President George Bush by writing, "Mr. President, if you ignore this letter we will all die of pollution and the the ozone layer."

Writing the president isn't a usual pastime for nine-year olds but, until recently, political activism wasn't part of the school curriculum.

In reality, Melissa's letter had nothing to do with environmental education, and Sanera and Shaw apparently never considered that there minght be an alternative explanation.  She was inspired by an episode of the TV show "Highway to Heaven" which showed the effects of air and water pollution.  The show ended on a positive note, "with the lead character saying that actions would be taken to save the environment by people who care." (Endangered Education).  When she received no response from the President, Melissa started sharing her letter and spreading the word about pollution.  She convinced a local company to put a copy of the letter on a billboard, and eventually it was put on 250 billboards across the country.  She received a reply from President Bush, a form letter telling her to stay off drugs.  Melissa, who is now seventeen, and some of her friends started Kids For A Clean Environment (KIDS FACE) and she has received several awards for her efforts.

Nancy Bray Cardozo

You would not expect a quote form Audubon Magazine to be used against environmental education, but that is what has happened.  Nancy Bray Cardozo reported that her daughter told her "They killed trees to make my bed.".  This, taken out of context,  has appeared in a number of publications, including Facts not Fear (Endangered Education, page 18).  But Cardozo, who was never interviewed by Sanera or Shaw, is in favor of environmental education (Endangered Education, page 19):

Even bad environmental education is better than no environmental education; this is a work in progress.  I never suggested backing down from teaching kids about what is happening in our environment.  But we should go beyond just saying that it is bad and show the whole picture.

According to Endangered Education, the only material that Cardozo objected to came from the Weyerhaeuser Company.  "Cardozo described Weyerhaeuser's curriculum materials as 'a wise-use manifesto' whose one-sided perspective on resource management leaves little room for kids to form their own opinions."

Reference

Endangered Education:  How Corporate Polluters are Attacking Environmental Education
Barbara Bohart, Marianne Manilov and Tamara Schwarz
The Center for Commercial-Free Public Education
1714 Franklin #100-306 Oakland CA 94612

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Written by Jim Norton

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