'Inconvenient Truth' Producer Pens Kids' Global Warming Text

By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com
Jan. 31, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - Move over, Chicken Little. A children's book planned for release in September is an attempt to "fill the minds of children with 'sky-is-falling' global warming hysteria," a Republican senator warns.

The producer of former Vice President Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" is hard at work on a new project: writing a book to help school kids "understand why global warming happens."

Scholastic, Inc. - one of the world's largest publishers of children's books, including the "Harry Potter" series - announced Monday that its Orchard Books imprint "has acquired world rights to 'The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming' by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon, scheduled for publication in September 2007."

"Written for ages 8 and up, 'The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming' is the comprehensive resource young readers can look to for understanding why global warming happens and how we can work together to stop it," Scholastic said.

"Irreverent and entertaining, and packed with essential facts and suggestions on how to effect change, 'Down to Earth' offers a message of hope," it said in a release.

Scholastic called the book "important" and noted it was co-authored by David, a producer of Gore's documentary.

According to the publisher, David has also produced an HBO documentary on global warming entitled "Too Hot Not to Handle" and served as the founder of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, David - the wife of comedian Larry David - was instrumental in convincing Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes to attend a lecture by Gore and then air an hour-long special entitled "The Heat Is On: The Case of Global Warming" on the Fox News Channel last November.

Gordon, David's co-author of the children's guide, is described by Scholastic as "an active environmentalist and a former award-winning advertising copywriter who now pursues children's writing full-time."

In an effort to "underscore the company's ongoing commitment to responsible environmental stewardship," text pages in the new book "will be printed on paper that contains 100 percent post-consumer waste fiber that is FSC [Forest Stewardship Council]-certified, using soy inks," the company noted.

Along with announcing the new book, Scholastic said in its release that "the company is joining with the Rainforest Alliance to further strengthen the company's sustainable paper procurement practices, establishing a policy that will have goals for the use of FSC-certified papers and that will reinforce the company's commitment to post-consumer waste (PCW) fiber."

"As a company committed to educating and caring for children and ensuring a safe environment in which they can learn and grow, Scholastic has a long record of environmentally sound policies and practices," said Beth Ford, senior vice president of Global Operations and IT for the company.

"We look forward to working with the Rainforest Alliance to make even greater strides in protecting the environment today and for future generations," Ford said.

According to the company website, "Scholastic is the largest publisher and distributor of children's books in the world" and has "over $2 billion in revenues."

"Through its unparalleled distribution businesses, Scholastic Trade, Scholastic Book Clubs, Scholastic At Home and Scholastic Book Fairs, the company reaches over 35 million children, 40 million parents and nearly every school in the U.S.," the website notes.

"Scholastic publishes more than 500 new hardcover, paperback and novelty books each year," including the Harry Potter series, Captain Underpants, Clifford The Big Red Dog and I Spy.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, told Cybercast News Service Monday that David's book isn't the first to try and tell children about global warming.

Last year, the United Nations Environment Program published "Tore and the Town on Thin Ice," a children's book about a young boy in an Arctic village who loses a dog sled race because he crashes through thinning ice supposedly caused by manmade "greenhouse gas" emissions.

Inhofe said he also found it interesting that Scholastic made the announcement regarding David's book just before the United Nations is set to release a major study on climate change.

"It appears that Laurie David is joining the United Nations in aiming its global warming propaganda at children," the senator said.

"Having failed for nearly three decades to convince the American people and their leaders to jump on the global warming alarmism bandwagon, David and the U.N. are trying to fill the minds of children with 'sky-is-falling' global warming hysteria," Inhofe said.