Brain wash

Barely a day after the conclusion of the Durban meet on climate change, former Australian prime minister John Howard lent his support to a book which argues the theory that human-induced global warming is a scam.

The latest from controversial geologist Ian Plimer, the book is billed as “an anti-global warmist manual for the younger reader”.

It includes 101 questions in which Plimer says students can challenge their teachers on climate science. The geologist claims worried parents prompted him to write the book. “We want children to have the basics from scientists, and not be fed activism,” he claims parents told him. Australian science teachers’ body retorted that Plimer “has no understanding of the way science is taught in schools”. Its president Margaret Watts said, “Teachers put out all facts and show children how to work through evidence.”