The launch of a climate change curriculum that teaches students how to tackle deniers and advises them to eat less dairy and meat has sparked a debate in New Zealand, where economic growth is hinged on the success of its milk, poultry and farming industry.
The new tool for students was launched by the NZ government in January this year in a bid to help students understand the effects of climate change after a pilot program at a Christchurch school in 2018.
The move has been questioned by meat and dairy farmers like Malcolm Lumsden, who owns the Waikato-based Lumsden Farms.
"Having been farming for over 55 years, we know we have a climate that changes all the time and the question is whether it's changing artificially or not. I don't believe so and I believe if they are teaching climate change in school they should be teaching the science."
Climate change concerns over the past years have changed the identity of New Zealand, which is associated with rolling hills and endless farms with cattle grazing all day.
Dariy farmer Malcolm Lumsden has questioned the need for climate change curriculum. Source: Reuters
Farmers have benefited from New Zealand's pure image, but the industry has also contributed to polluted waters, and high methane emissions from over 5 million cows, which outnumber the human population.
The government and urban New Zealanders have blamed dairy and meat farmers for polluting the country's fields and waters with farm effluent and animal faeces. Farmers, however, have dismissed these claims, saying they are being unfairly targeted.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern initiated sweeping reforms to tackle climate change this year, including emission targets for agriculture, and a plan for the country to become carbon neutral by 2050.
And as bushfires raged in Australia earlier this year, turning New Zealand's skies red and its glaciers brown, the government went a step further to introduce new school curriculum aimed at teaching children about climate change.
Designed for students in years 7 to 10, the climate change curriculum explains the role science plays in understanding climate change, talks about its impacts - globally and domestically - and looks at ways students can contribute to reducing and adapting to the impact of climate change on everyday life, the education ministry said.
Lourdes Vano is active in the School Strike for Climate movement which last year saw tens of thousands of students take to the streets to demand action to reduce carbon emissions.
"I think it would be massively helpful for it to be taught in schools because pretty much everything that I know now and a lot of the School Strike for Climate team knows now, is what we taught ourselves and what we read up on and learned through other people and word of mouth and going to talks and seminars," she said.
Ms Vano, who is a Green Party candidate for the upcoming election in September, hoped schools would make the most of the climate change curriculum now available.
Loudes Vano says the lack of information about climate change is a big gap in her education. Source: Reuters
"I think that's a really massive gap in our curriculum because it's everything to do with our futures and our lives today, and introducing that in a safe way would be really important and in a way that it doesn't scare a lot of our kids."
The education resource says intensive agriculture is one cause of greenhouse gases, and it recommends to eat less meat and dairy.
Chairman of the National Council of Rural Support Trusts Neil Bateup, who is also a farmer, suggested the education material was misleading.
"There's trends but what's driving those trends is still, yeah, still even up for debate. If you actually change what people, try and change it through social engineering, I think it's very, very dangerous," he said.
Mr Lumsden said farmers were already feeling the strain of rules and regulations.
"If they are going to continue to bite the hand that feeds them, and farming feeds New Zealand, then they are going to lose out in the long term."
The resource is not a compulsory part of the curriculum and the education ministry has asked schools to consult with parents and the community before including it.
Dairy accounts for about 3.5 per cent of New Zealand's GDP. The demand for grass-fed dairy and meat products from New Zealand has soared in the past decade, especially from its biggest importer, China.
Tim van de Molen, the local member of Parliament for Waikato, said he sees no issues with climate change being taught in schools from a broad perspective across many areas.
"What we are seeing currently around proposals where people should be looking to have Meatless Mondays or that dairy farming is terrible for the climate, those sorts of things are very opinionated and don't have a clear scientific basis to it," he said.
