How Florida quietly removed climate change content from textbooks

Florida education officials pushed publishers to soften or cut climate change content from high school science textbooks in summer 2024, according to records obtained through a public records request. In one biology textbook, a line stating climate change kills at least 150,000 people a year was changed to a vaguer statement about CO2 affecting human health. Other edits swapped "climate change" for "changes in the environment," dropped the word "polluting" from a reference to coal plants, and removed mentions of the fossil fuel industry's political and economic influence. Publishers including McGraw Hill, Cengage, and Savvas Learning Company confirmed making changes at the state's request.

The edits came as Florida works to update its science standards for the first time since 2008 — standards that currently require climate change be taught in high school courses like earth science, marine science, and environmental science. It's unclear whether the new standards, submitted this summer and now under state review, will keep that requirement. Teachers interviewed described a "culture of caution" around discussing climate change, even though it isn't formally banned.

This is a policy story, not one with a direct action for your household. But it points to something worth knowing: what your kids or grandkids learn about climate change, home weatherization, and energy use may depend heavily on which state they attend school in, since textbook content varies from state to state based on these kinds of pressures.