This summary in from the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s daily “Progress Report”:

GLOBAL WARMING — SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION REFUSES COPIES OF ‘INCONVENIENT TRUTH’: Global warming activist Laurie David reported in the Washington Post that the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) refused 500,000 free DVD copies of An Inconvenient Truth, which scientists gave “five stars for accuracy.” David wrote, “In their e-mail rejection, they expressed concern that other ‘special interests’ might ask to distribute materials, too; they said they didn’t want to offer ‘political’ endorsement of the film; and they saw ‘little, if any, benefit to NSTA or its members’ in accepting the free DVDs.” The NSTA also expressed concern that accepting the DVDs would place “unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters.” But those supporters already include “special interests,” including Exxon-Mobil, Shell Oil, and the American Petroleum Institute, which have given millions in funding to the NSTA. The NSTA has freely distributed oil industry-funded “educational” content like “Fuel-less: You Can’t Be Cool Without Fuel,” produced by the American Petroleum Institute (API). The film features the opening line: “You’re absolutely not going to believe this, but everything I have that’s really cool comes from oil!” An API memo leaked to the media in 1998 explains the motivation behind such videos: “Informing teachers/students about uncertainties in climate science will begin to erect barriers against further efforts to impose Kyoto-like measures in the future.”

More on this issue from Laurie David, in the washington post:

It’s hard to say whether NSTA is a bad guy here or just a sorry victim of tight education budgets. And we don’t pretend that a two-hour movie is a substitute for a rigorous science curriculum. Students should expect, and parents should demand, that educators present an honest and unbiased look at the true state of knowledge about the challenges of the day…

While NSTA and Exxon Mobil ponder the moral lesson they’re teaching with all this, there are 50,000 DVDs sitting in a Los Angeles warehouse, waiting to be distributed. In the meantime, Mom and Dad may want to keep a sharp eye on their kids’ science homework.

…what? 50,000 DVDs sitting in a Los Angeles warehouse? wait, i’m in LA. Who wants to join me in storming the warehouse and handing these dvds out to kids and saying — hey share this with your buddies? :>