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WATCH: Julian Castro Urges Public Schools To Promote Climate Change Narrative

   DailyWire.com
Julian Castro speaks on stage during Young Leaders Conference 2019 - 2020 Presidential Candidates Forum.
Paras Griffin/WireImage via Getty Images

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro suggested on Wednesday that public schools should implement climate education in order to form children’s beliefs and habits.

“Yes, I believe that it should,” Castro replied during a CNN Town Hall when asked if climate change should be taught in schools. “In fact, I believe that it is essential if we want to raise a generation of Americans that will do right by our planet, make the little decisions in life that are going to help ensure that we can get to where we need to get, to get to net zero [emissions].”

Castro further lamented the American education structure whereby representatives are elected to local school boards and ultimately have the power to determine the educational curriculum. He noted that Republicans are too often elected to the positions that control what students are taught.

“I think if we’re going to get there though — and this doesn’t just apply to curriculum about the environment, it applies to a whole bunch of other stuff — we need to do things like end this system of people that get elected,” explained the presidential hopeful. “Whether it is in Texas or other states, they get elected, then they sit on a statewide board that determines what is in curriculum.”

“And too often times, right-wing conservatives have taken over these boards in places like Texas,” he continued. “And they affect who gets into the history books, its slanted view on social studies, it is probably against any kind of meaningful curriculum on the environment.”

Castro added that while it is necessary for the American education system to teach students the importance of climate change, parents also have a responsibility to instill those lessons in their own children.

“So, there are some structural changes that I believe that we need to make, but I do believe that that kind of curriculum should be taught in our schools because that’s now urgent this crisis is,” Castro said. “And we also have a role to play as mothers and fathers, family members, too.”

“I know that I’ve encouraged my children to be more environmentally conscious – to recycle for instance and understand the impact that their actions have on the environment, to teach them about that,” he continued. “I hope that all parents, all families, are able to do that and we should encourage that because all of us have a role to play, our schools do, too.”

Castro unveiled his plan to combat climate change on Tuesday, aptly named the “People and Planet First Plan.” The proposal is estimated to cost $10 trillion over the next decade and aims to create 10 million jobs during that period. It also seeks to phase out both coal-generated electricity and gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030.

The “People and Planet First Plan” estimates that the United States will be net-zero emissions by 2045 and the world, led by the United States, will be net-zero emissions by 2050.

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