Florida Officials Altered Climate Change Content in Textbooks

Florida education officials requested significant alterations to science textbook content during the summer of 2024, leading to the dilution or complete removal of information pertaining to the climate crisis. These changes, uncovered by an investigation from WUSF and The Hechinger Report, impacted textbooks used in high school marine biology and environmental science courses. For instance, McGraw Hill's Marine Science textbook originally included research indicating that climate change causes at least 150,000 deaths annually, with an additional 1 degree Celsius of warming projected to double this figure. However, the revised version presented this information more vaguely, stating that "human health will also be affected by the increase in CO2 and another 1 degree Celsius will further increase the impact." In another instance within the same textbook, the specific phrase "climate change" was replaced with the more general term "changes in the environment." Similarly, Cengage's environmental science textbook underwent modifications, with the publisher removing the descriptor "polluting" from "coal burning power plants." The textbook also omitted a reference to students at the University of Washington in Seattle who voted to increase their fees to support the school's acquisition of electricity from renewable energy sources. Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit organization that monitors climate change education nationwide, stated that these alterations were not mandated by the state's science standards. He characterized the demand for a weakened treatment of climate change in textbooks as "very unusual." These revelations emerge as Florida is in the process of updating its science standards for the first time since 2008. Academic standards are designed to define the knowledge and skills students are expected to acquire in each grade and subject. The current science standards stipulate that human-caused climate change must be taught in several high school electives, including earth science, marine science, and environmental science, and also allow for the topic to be discussed in other contexts. The investigation highlights a pattern of officials requesting publishers to modify content, resulting in a less comprehensive portrayal of climate change impacts and solutions for students across the state. The specific nature of the requested changes suggests a deliberate effort to downplay the severity and urgency of the climate crisis in educational materials.