New book throws kids a "climate life preserver"

Los Angeles, CA (Oct. 1, 2007) -- In a foxnews.com article that ran Sept. 27th, (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298306,00.html), junk-science expert Steve Milloy compared two new kids books that deal with the issue of global warming in very different ways. Only one of those books -- “The Sky’s NOT Falling! Why It’s OK To Chill About Global Warming”(Holly Fretwell, Kids Ahead Publishing, ISBN 0976726947, Kids Ahead, paperback, for ages 8-12, September 2007), passed muster.

For Milloy and many other experts, the key issue in the controversy about whether humans are causing global warming is whether man-made emissions of carbon dioxide are causing global temperatures to increase. “If increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide doesn’t drive global temperature, then there would seem to be little reason to panic about greenhouse-gas emissions for the sake of averting global warming,” Milloy writes. Fair enough. But in the recent kids book written by Laurie David of “An Inconvenient Truth” fame, the truth seems to be taking a back seat to creating fear in young minds.

“On page 18 of the David book [called ”The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming“], the authors present a graph of the relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and global temperatures for the last 650,000 years,” Milloy continues. The only problem is that the graph is dead wrong, according to a report from the Science and Public Policy Institute.

The author of “The Sky’s NOT Falling! Why It’s OK To Chill About Global Warming” concurs, saying, “In her book, David tells kids that because there is a correlation between atmospheric CO2 levels and temperature change that CO2 is the cause of the change in temperature. For evidence, she uses a graph showing a line for each.” Yes, as many scientists have shown, there is a correlation; the two rise and fall together. But, as Fretwell points out, “correlation is not causation.”

Even worse, David mislabeled her graph. “David points out that atmospheric CO2 levels tend to increase before temperature changes,” observes the author of “The Sky’s NOT Falling!” She continues, “It’s correct according to her diagram. But once you realize that her labels are reversed her whole thesis goes out the window.”

“The Sky’s NOT Falling!” is the product of Holly Fretwell’s concern not just for the environment, but for the millions of kids being handed an environmental bill of goods in class. As an educator, a mom and an optimist, Ms. Fretwell envisions a world that is wealthier, and so healthier for all. To get there, however, our kids need to become critical thinkers. And as Laurie David’s willingness to play fast and loose with the facts shows, too much of what is passing for “truth” when it comes to the issue of global warming is anything but.

“While human-released carbon dioxide has increased, it is not clear if or how much it contributes to global warming,” the author of “The Sky’s NOT Falling!” asserts. "What humans release is only a small part of the overall cycle. The science of climatology is uncertain.

“We don’t have good evidence or good answers for the changing temperatures on earth. We do know they have been changing for hundreds of thousands of years, long before humans played a role. To say that ’the science is decided’ when it comes to the issue of global warming is just plain wrong. I want kids to hear the truth and to learn how to find it.”

About Kids Ahead:
Kids Ahead is an imprint of World Ahead Media. To learn more visit www.worldahead.com
To interview the author:
To interview Holly Fretwell, contact Maria Sliwa at 973-272-2861 or msliwa@msliwa.com

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Kids Ahead Publishing

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