Leading environmentalists in the UK, including broadcaster David Attenborough and mountaineer Chris Bonington, have condemned the country’s government’s plans to drop debate about climate change from the national curriculum for children under 14. In a letter to the Sunday Times Attenborough and Bonington joined academics, politicians and business leaders in warning that “the proposals are shortsighted”.
Under the draft national curriculum for England, education on the environment would start three years later than at present. “This is both unfathomable and unacceptable. These proposals not only undermine our children’s understanding and love of nature, but ultimately threaten nature itself,” the letter states.