New Jersey is set to become the first state in the country that will mandate its public school students to learn about so-called “global warming,” with curriculum focusing on the subject being introduced in the 2022-2023 academic year.
According to ABC News, the effort was led by Tammy Murphy, the wife of Governor Phil Murphy (D-N.J.). In an interview on Thursday, the First Lady of New Jersey falsely claimed that “climate change is becoming a real reality.”
The curriculum was first adopted in 2020 by the state board of education, but its implementation was halted by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The lessons will be mandatory for grades K-12.
“The districts themselves are able to design whatever it is that the way they want to implement and interpret this new education standard,” Murphy continued.
Lessons taught to students as a result of the new curriculum will focus on several scientifically unverified claims, including the alleged impact of global warming on public health, human society, and certain natural disasters.
“You can look around the world, whether it’s Pakistan that has a third of the country under water right now, or wildfires raging across the United States, and droughts in Asia,” Murphy went on, without providing any proof to verify her claims. “Here in our own backyard in New Jersey, we have our own challenges. Whether it’s sea level rise or microburst or algae blooms.”
The New Jersey curriculum will be made accessible for teachers to learn about through the New Jersey Climate Change Education Hub, an online hub that will provide teachers with lesson plans, educational videos, and other sources of professional development to prepare for the curriculum ahead of the coming school year.
Murphy’s rhetoric reflects talking points that have been used by the Biden Administration. Speaking before the United Nations in New York City, Joe Biden falsely asserted that the world is “already living in a climate crisis.”
“No one seems to doubt it after this past year,” said Biden. “Choosing which child to feed and wondering whether they will survive. This is the human cost of climate change. And it is growing.”