Over 400 teachers and educators from across the country have agreed to boycott the Science Museum in London due to its sponsorship deal with a brand linked to the coalminer Adani.
Teachers have united to sign an open letter to the museum stating that they will not bring their students to the building until it cancels its sponsorship deal with Adani Green Energy.
Adani Green Energy is owned by Adani Group, a major coalmine and coal-fired power station company.
Last year, around 40 prominent academics and scientists, including a former director of the museum and a former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said they were “deeply concerned” about the institution’s fossil fuel sponsorship deals. They also announced that they would boycott the museum until the situation was resolved.
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“I’ve brought many thousands of students to this place over the last 25 years. It makes me so sad that this magical building, that has done so much to benefit and inspire young people, is now actively harming them by allowing coal giants like Adani, who are destroying the future of the world’s young people by expanding mining, to greenwash their reputation at the expense of the reputation of the museum,” Harris Westminster Sixth Form teacher, Ian McDermott told The Guardian.
The energy supplier is expected to sponsor the museum’s ‘Energy Revolution’ gallery next year.
The museum’s director, Ian Blatchford, added: “We agree that climate change is the most urgent challenge facing humanity but we don’t agree with the argument from some who say we should sever ties with all energy companies with an association, direct or indirect, with fossil fuels. We believe the right approach is to engage and challenge companies and other partners to do more to make the global economy less carbon intensive.”
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