As a member of the New York Youth Climate Leaders (NY2CL), a group of high school and college environmentalists dedicated to promoting climate-conscious legislation in New York state, I was recently tasked with researching how fossil fuels are discussed in the American education system. The data I discovered was to be used for an art piece that would highlight the lackluster, and occasionally romanticized, portrayal of fossil fuels in K-5 classrooms. Those who have been educated in an American public school will most likely be able to describe how the remains of dinosaurs allow our houses to be heated or our cars to be driven. This knowledge, while technically true and seemingly innocent, is part of a grand campaign to idolize fossil fuels in elementary classrooms that is environmentally and educationally unethical.

So, why do schools across the nation choose to continue a decades-long tradition of downplaying the dangers of fossil fuel reliance, despite the flood of harrowing climate-related headlines in mainstream media? Is it a purely political and social matter, like the education of evolution or literary censorship? While sifting through fossil-fuel-based worksheets, lesson plans and textbook chapters from primary schools across the country, I found that the common thread was more economic than anything else. The vast majority of these materials were produced with funding from oil and gas companies. Thus, it should come as no surprise that many of these sources not only neglect to discuss the harmful and unsustainable elements of fossil fuel usage, but also glorify their role in society.

One of the most egregious and infamous examples of fossil fuel marketing in American classrooms is the “Petro Pete” campaign in Oklahoma public schools. Petro Pete is a cartoon character that was created by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board (OERB) in the early 2000s. The OERB, which has proudly donated over $2 billion to schools in the past 10 years, is funded by Oklahoma fossil fuel companies. Pete, who resembles a grotesque and infantile rendition of Bob the Builder, is featured in a series of picture books and activity sheets that highlight the global reliance on oil and gas. In the most popular of the OERB books, “Petro Pete’s Big Bad Dream,” the titular character reflects on the number of his possessions that rely on fossil fuels to be produced, such as a toothbrush, or function, such as a school bus. Pete has a nightmare where he wakes up to find all of his fossil fuel byproducts have disappeared, only to receive an in-depth lesson on the “miracles” of oil and gas production in his science class. The young readers of the book are intended to learn vicariously through Pete about the role of fossil fuels in their daily lives.

For decades, this story and others like it have been directly implemented into American elementary education, often being the only sources regarding fossil fuels that children are exposed to. In addition to fabricating narratives that idolize fossil fuel production and use, oil and gas companies produce supplemental “educational” worksheets that underline the alleged advantages of non-renewable energy over renewable options. One infographic from the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), titled “Environmental Benefits of Ohio’s Crude Oil and Natural Gas,” claims that because natural gas pumps require less acreage and smaller surface structures than solar panels and wind turbines, fossil fuels are a more sensible choice than their energy-efficient counterparts. The OOGEEP has also developed a fossil fuel activity sheet that combines the glorification of pollution with the innocent fun of a maze and connect-the-dots. These materials, which present one-sided portrayals of fossil fuels, leave young students both ignorant of the ongoing climate crisis and fawning over their planet’s murder weapon.

Although some may believe that the gas-, oil- and coal-centric values instilled in American children are easily erased later in life after these students receive higher education, this is not the case. Despite the recent movement to include relevant and realistic portrayals of climate change in middle and high school science classrooms nationwide, these efforts cannot wholly reverse the harmful effects of a student’s elementary environmental education. As any expert in child development will tell you, children are highly impressionable. Between the ages of seven and 11 years old — years during which a child would typically be in elementary school — the human brain is constantly being shaped by sensory experiences, including the oral lessons that a child is taught. While it is possible for a person to change their perceptions later in life, it is improbable due to the steadfast neurological foundation that has been established. One might even compare the actions of fossil fuel companies to those of the multimillion-dollar company, Juul, which received backlash in 2020 for polluting children’s lungs and minds with flashing marketing campaigns and fruity flavors. Using mental manipulation, both enterprises are encouraging toxic lifestyles for young people that are hard to abandon.

While problematic discussions of fossil fuels continue to dominate American education, there has recently been a push among school administrations and district science departments across the country to shift the narrative to a less biased position. Organizations such as the New Hampshire Energy Education Project work with local schools to create demonstrations for young students to illustrate the impacts of climate change, such as using puddles on the playground to showcase the downsides of a rapidly warming environment. On a nationwide scale, climate-oriented groups like the United States Environmental Protection Agency offer a plethora of climate-conscious educational resources for educators and students. Additionally, the National Research Council, National Science Foundation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Science Teachers Association recently partnered to propose new Common Core standards that would introduce a well-rounded narrative of fossil fuels and their alternatives in grades prior to middle school. These partnerships have created murmurs within the education industry regarding evident gaps in climate-science teaching that have the potential to become a roar.

Direct commercial intervention has no place in our nation’s classrooms. We cannot allow textbooks to be written by stockholders or lesson plans to be dictated by CEOs. The time has come to remove fossil fuel marketing from the curriculum of American elementary schools. Only then we can ensure that our science lessons remain scientific and our future remains open to change.

Peter Proscia is a sophomore majoring in English.