Usborne - Indoctrination by stealth

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by the weather (still am), and at school I was reading undergraduate meteorology textbooks during my O-levels. Some of my favourite books were in the Observers series, and the Observer's Book of Weather, by Reginald Lester (see photo), was my favourite of all. It was a clear, concise introduction to the science of weather, and as a youngster I would pore over it for hours on end. There wasn't a politically motivated sentence in it.

How different things are today. I have a copy of a modern book about weather, but it's not just about weather, it's about weather and climate change. It's published by Usborne, who have a reputation for producing excellent books for children. However, this, like many books on the subject available today, is political propaganda aimed at young people, cloaked in the guise of impartial science.

It toes the IPCC line at every turn, and whilst devoting a double page to "Disagreement" humouring those who may not agree with the consensus, it goes on to brand them "sceptics", and under the heading "So who's right?" states:

"At the moment, most experts agree that global warming is happening and it's largely due to humans. As research continues and climate models become more sophisticated, we might see more evidence that this isn't the case.

But even if the sceptics are right and we've done no damage so far, we should still do everything we can to avoid causing any in the future."

I'm sure there are many other books for children on this subject which are far worse than this. Indeed, a quick Amazon search revealed books, aimed specifically at young readers, entitled:

• "Why are the ice caps melting? The dangers of global warming"
• "This is my planet: The Kids' Guide to Global Warming"
• "A Clean Sky: The Global Warming Story"
  

And I would bet a tidy sum that there aren't any books for children that put the alternative view... But it's still very sad that something as uniquely fascinating as the study of the weather has to be tainted by political propaganda.

The book in question is called "The Usborne Internet-Linked Introduction to Weather and Climate Change" - it can be found at Amazon.