Digital media resources from Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, including on-demand video, lessons plans, student activities, and historical archives, are now available through the PBS Teachers web portal.

The site includes preK-12 educational services and a searchable library of more than 9,000 local and national standards-based instructional resources.

PBS Teachers and Classroom 2.0 will host a webinar on Oct. 7 to demonstrate ways to integrate the National Parks educational media and other free technologies into classroom instruction. Through the National Parks resources, educators can create an engaging tour of the nation’s historic and natural treasures while teaching students core curriculum lessons and 21st century skills.

During the PBS Teachers LIVE! webinar, “Teaching About Place With Ken Burns’ National Parks: America’s Best Idea” on Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. ET, educational experts will discuss digital storytelling, including geographic and historical projects, and model classroom activities. Educators will learn how to use National Parks and ArcGIS, a free, downloadable, 2D/3D geo-exploration and presentation tool, in teaching about national parks and curricular topics.

The webinar is sponsored by ABC-CLIO, award-winning publisher of reference titles in the field of history and social studies. In partnership with PBS Teachers, ABC-CLIO offers The Making of National Parks, a free collection of resources, including park profiles, biographies, maps, and images, to spark student interest in the creation of national parks, preservation and the dilemmas that come with it.

Filmed over 10 years, National Parks is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. Using archival photographs, first-person accounts of historical characters, personal memories and analysis from more than 40 interviews, and stunning cinematography, the film traces the birth of the national park idea and follows its evolution for nearly 150 years through the stories of the people who helped create and save them.

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

The National Parks educational resources are designed for middle and high school grade levels and cover art, language arts, science, and several social studies disciplines, such as history, geography, economics, and civics. Among the unique resources to help educators infuse technology into instruction are the place-based digital storytelling modules. Several video screencasts along with printable quick-start guides provide educators with step-by-step instructions on using the latest technologies to create digital storytelling projects, addressing basic to advanced level technology skills. The modules illustrate the processes of geotagging, video editing and special effects, uploading stories to the National Parks site to a part of a public collection, and more.

By Tom Kessler

ADDISON, Texas (ADDISONGREEN.INFO) — When you have the word “green” in your school name, it’s probably safe to assume that environmental awareness is top of mind. That’s exactly the case at Addison’s Greenhill School, a coeducational private day school with more than 1,200 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

Over the last four years, the school’s Green Team — composed of parents and faculty — has led a series of sustainability initiatives that are truly putting the green in Greenhill. School leaders have looked for ways to make the school a more sustainable place and to promote eco-friendly habits in the students. >> Read the full story

EarthEcho International, a nonprofit environmental education and youth leadership organization working to restore and protect the water planet, today announced a program to involve millions of U.S. middle and high school students.

The Water Planet Challenge program, announced during the Clinton Global Initiative fifth annual meeting in New York, intends to foster tomorrow’s conservation leaders. EarthEcho says the program will fill a critical need in America’s classrooms, where it sees the lack of unified ocean and fresh-water systems education and service-learning content.

Philippe Cousteau

“Water is the single most precious substance on the planet. It is not only a universal entry point to environmental issues, it is also a universal necessity of our everyday lives,” EarthEcho International Co-Founder and CEO Philippe Cousteau said in a statement. “Though the natural environment is a leading interest of students currently participating in service experiences, there is very little content that exists to support them. If we truly want to save what my grandfather called our water planet then we must arm youth with the knowledge, skills and tools to take action to do so.”

EarthEcho International is a nonprofit founded by siblings Philippe and Alexandra Cousteau in honor of their father Philippe Cousteau Sr., the son of the legendary explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau.

Set to launch in January 2010, the Water Planet Challenge will provide middle and high school students with access to service-learning lesson plans created by Youth HandsOn Network that model multiple service opportunities (volunteerism, consumer campaigns, product development, and civic action) to support the health of the environment, and position local action within a global context. Students and teachers also will have access to standards-aligned ocean and water-related curriculum enhancement content for middle and high school students. The results of the project will be measured through digital tracking tools designed specifically for this effort by Validifi Technologies.

Planet Green, the cable and Internet channel, is the media partner for the Challenge, while Discovery Education will serve as one of the education partners. EarthEcho says the effort will be the largest environmental service-learning program in the country.

Somewhere in between the sleep-away camps, beach excursions and baseball games of summer, kids and parents alike generally see the appeal of the sand-free floors and refrigerated air of a good museum. Institutions across the country know this is a great time to squeeze some education into kid-friendly, entertaining exhibitions; here’s a list of some of the best nature-oriented attractions for vacationers who’ve felt a bit too much heat this month.

Twenty-two teams of U.S. middle school students have been named state finalists in the inaugural Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, in which the students were asked to “go green” by creating and implementing environmental change in their local communities. Two national winning teams and one grand prize-winning team will be chosen and announced on May 18.

More than 2,000 students participated in the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge and state finalist projects covered topics such as e-waste recycling, ecosystem restoration and water conservation. The Siemens Foundation partnered with Discovery Education and National Science Teachers Association on the competition, which will expand to elementary schools in 2009 and to high schools in 2010.

The competition created teams of two to three students in sixth through eighth grade, under the mentorship of a teacher or adult supervisor, who were asked to identify an environmental issue in their community, research the issue using scientific investigation, and create a replicable green solution using web-based curriculum tools powered by Discovery Education. A panel of environmental experts and science educators then reviewed and selected the top projects.

As a state finalist team, each student member will receive an eco-friendly prize pack, which includes a recycled messenger bag, a solar charger, a recycled USB drive, a recycled journal, a reusable water bottle and other sustainable supplies. In addition to the prize pack, the team’s adult advisor will receive a free one-year membership to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and a one-year subscription to Discovery Education Science, the digital resource library designed to deepen understanding of science.

The two national winning teams will earn savings bonds, teacher education resources and unique “Discovery Experience” trips. The grand prize-winning team will receive a comprehensive prize package, which includes an appearance on Planet Green, Discovery’s 24-hour eco-lifestyle network and a once-in-a-lifetime Discovery Adventure Trip, accompanied by a Discovery TV personality.

Here are the 22 state finalists:

Team Bruce/Kennedy
Greenwich, Connecticut
Convent of the Sacred Heart
Students: Polly, Morgan
Teacher/Mentor: Carol Vergilis, 8th grade Science
Members of the environmental team Bruce/Kennedy focused on ways to reduce the amount of paper used at their school, Convent of the Sacred Heart. Team Bruce/Kennedy educated their fellow classmates and teachers on simple alternatives that help to minimize their use of paper. Ideas that were implemented include, utilizing electronic homework resources, encouraging paper-less classes, double sided printing and emailing electronic documents.

Team Educate Them and They Will
Norwood, Massachusetts
South Area Solomon Schechter Day School
Students: Brittany, Aaron, Robbie
Teacher/Mentor: Nitzan Resnick, Science Department Chair
After learning about global warming and recycling in science class, Team Educate Them and They Will from Norwood, Mass., decided to establish a recycling program at their school. Students leading the program created and distributed informational brochures and visited classrooms to present on the importance of recycling. In order to get students and teachers more involved in this initiative, a school wide competition was started and the class that recycled the largest quantity of materials won a prize.

Team Millburn Mustangs
Short Hills, New Jersey
Millburn Middle School
Students: Brannon, Nils, Erik
Teacher/Mentor: Michelle Cho
The Millburn Mustangs team analyzed the harmful effects of the prevalent Norway Maple tree on their growing community. The team members determined that this non-native, invasive tree was a threat to the ecosystem due to its dominance over other species of trees. The Mustangs teamed up with the town’s forester and through surveys, presentations and direct mailings they persuaded 87% of survey participants to replace their Norway Maple trees with other native trees provided by the city.

Team E-Waste Girls
Levittown, New York
Island Trees Middle School
Students: Marisa, Kristen, Jenna
Teacher/Mentor: Eileen Anderson, 8th grade Science teacher
The E-Waste Team’s goal was to educate their fellow classmates and students about the proper disposal of Electronic Waste (E-Waste). Through flyers, brochures, and public announcements within the school, word got out. The National Honor Society joined the campaign as well as several local politicians. At the school’s first E-Waste drive 2,060 pounds were collected. Additionally, the school has committed to holding E-Waste drives in the future.

Team AMD
Hanover, MD
Chesapeake Science Point PCS
Students: Luke, Jack
Teacher/Mentor: Steven Andraka
Team AMD couldn’t help but notice that their local streams and rivers appeared highly contaminated. The team members were determined to find an inexpensive and efficient way to clean up the Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) from their favorite local streams and rivers. After much research, Team AMD learned that limestone sand helps to neutralize the pollutants that come from AMD. Team AMD hopes that their experiment can help spread the word about this type of pollutant and how it can be safely and effectively mitigated.

Team Styrofoam Blasters
Corbin, Kentucky
Corbin Middle School
Students: Ethan, Tyler, Allison
Teacher/Mentor: Melissa Evans, 7th grade Science teacher
Team Styrofoam Blasters knew there had to be a more earth-friendly and economical alternative to the Styrofoam trays their school cafeteria provided. This team of determined students persuaded their school’s cafeteria staff to purchase a working dishwasher and start using reusable trays. Local newspapers and news channels highlighted their achievements and other schools in the district are now considering this alternative dining option.

Team Stewards of the Pamlico Sound
Buxton, North Carolina
Cape Hatteras Secondary School of Coastal Studies
Students: Evan, Ashley, Kailee
Teacher/Mentor: Tracy Shisler, 6th,7th, and 8th grade Science teacher
This team’s goal was to restore the oyster population in the Pamlico Sound in Hattarus Island, North Carolina. This was no simple endeavor, in order to successfully help repair the sound’s estuary system they teamed up with the Division of Marine Fisheries and the Coastal Studies Institute and created an artificial oyster reef. After many months of observation it became apparent that the oyster population had grown significantly. Because of the great success of their first reef, many clubs and organizations got involved and they now have created two additional reefs that they are tracking closely.

Team Mission Green
Little Rock, Arkansas
Dunbar Magnet Middle School
Students: Matthew, Jace
Teacher/Mentor: Gwendolynn Millen, 6th grade teacher
Members from Team Mission Green were frequently reminded of the lack of recycling in their communities as they drove past the vast landfills each morning on their way to school. These students were determined to spread the word about recycling options in their neighborhoods. They developed and distributed a flyer surveying the local community members on their recycling habits. Ten out of 10 people surveyed stated that they would recycle more if the city provided a pick-up recycling service. Team Mission Green felt that their fliers generated buzz around the city and felt confident that their efforts have helped to encourage people to live a “greener” lifestyle.

Team The Allstars
Royal Palm Beach, Florida
Crestwood Middle School
Students: Holly, Autumn
Teacher/Mentor: Yevette Mcdaniel
Holly and Autumn, members of The Allstars live in Southern Florida, a region that is commonly affected by droughts. Due to the city’s water usage restrictions households are only able to water their lawns and gardens twice weekly. Holly and Autumn had heard of a new product on the market that claimed to conserve water while aiding in plant’s growth and were intrigued. They decided to test this product to see if its main ingredient, hydro-polymers was truly effective. Results proved that hydro-polymers are helpful in growing plants while conserving water. Thrilled with their results, Holly and Autumn presented their research to the School’s Advisory Committee and continue to spread the word in their community.

Team SFMS Eagles
Cumming, Georgia
South Forsyth Middle School
Students: Tommy, James
Teacher/Mentor: Patti Grammens
After learning that the state of Georgia had been in a drought since year 2006, Team SFMS Eagles decided that they wanted to base their project on conservation and reuse of water. The team developed a solar powered model that collected rain water for reuse in the school’s plumbing system. After testing their model on several different occasions, Team SFMS Eagles concluded that if the mechanism was scaled to the correct size (theirs was smaller replica) this device could help save thousands of gallons of water per year.

Team Dead Weight
West Branch, Iowa
West Branch Middle School
Students: Jathan, Justin, Brennan
Teacher/Mentor: Hector Ibarra
Team Dead Weight’s goal was to get the word out about the dangers of lead wheel weights in vehicles, and to help to phase out this hazardous material in the tire industry. This group of students presented to the City Council, Community School District and other civic organizations. The city and school districts were convinced; they agreed to phase out lead wheel weights in vehicles owned by the city and school districts. In addition, the students teamed up with several legislators to develop three bills proposing to phase out the harmful metal.

Team Oddly Charged Particles
Ballwin, Missouri
Morgan Selvidge Middle School
Students: Ian, Chris, Ryan
Teacher/Mentor: Sally Blackburn
Oddly Charge Particles teamed up with several energy experts and engineers to do a full energy audit for their school. A list outlining various ways to conserve energy was submitted to the principal and the school district facilities director. The list included installing a soy based reflective roof coating, using a timer to shut off the hot water heater when the building is not occupied and installing energy controlled devices in vending machines. The team decided to pursue the addition of energy controlled devices in vending machines. The team’s hard work and dedication paid off-not only was their school on board, but the entire state of Missouri decided to include a requirement for vending machine energy saving technology in all future contracts.

Team SOSMRT2
Walled Lake, Michigan
SOSMRT
Students: Ekaterina, Demerise
Teacher/Mentor: Donna Czarnik
Team SOSMRT2 noticed that their local city and schools throw away bottles and cans even though they have recycling pick-up. Their goal was to educate kids and adults about how recycling can help the earth. They visited a recycling facility, then placed recycling bins in both schools and offices, and created posters educating about recycling. After three weeks, their findings showed that the adults recycled more than the kids. They shared these results with different groups in their community, and presented their project to their county Board of Commissioners Planning and Building Committee.

Team Cows with Guns
Bozeman, Montana
Sacajawea Middle School
Students: Sophie, Maria, Seth
Teacher/Mentor: Loretta Reichert
The students from Team Cows with Guns live in Montana, a state in which the economy is based largely on beef and diary farming. This team did extensive research on the effects of methane gas emitted from beef farming. In order to tackle this large scale problem on factory farms Team Cows with Guns advised farms to build methane digesters, which some farms in their areas are starting to consider and build. Additionally, the team suggests reducing or eliminating meat from one’s diet to help reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere.

Team Picture This
Bellaire, Texas
Pin Oak Middle School
Students: Nina, Cassi, Donia
Teacher/Mentor: Jamie Scott
Team Picture This created, organized, managed, and ran the Picture This Environmental Film Festival, where they asked Houston area students to submit a 2-5 minute film about an environmental issue. They received donated prizes from area businesses and had a total of 17 films submitted. Over 120 people came to the film festival, and team Picture This collected data by giving all attendees a survey at the end. Their results showed that 100% of the attendees learned something at the festival.

Team Plan B
Appleton, Wisconsin
Fox River Academy
Students: Jordan, Kyle, Deryk
Teacher/Mentor: Joann Engel
Team Plan B found that there was a need to educate the City of Appleton about how rain barrels can save money, save water, and help save the environment. They received a grant of $1,250 from the City of Appleton to conduct a workshop on how to build rain barrels. They had 28 families within the community signed up for the workshop at the time this challenge ended, and they had made fliers and brochures to continue to promote their March 21st event.

Team Recycle Because You Care
Addison, IL
St. Philip the Apostle School
Students: Angel, Maggie, Dana
Teacher/Mentor: Dawn O’Brien
Team Recycle Because You Care saw a need to educate their neighborhood on the benefits of recycling, because less than a quarter of the households in their community recycled, and they wanted to figure out why people weren’t recycling. They picked a test area of 6 blocks in their neighborhood, contacted each block in a different way to determine what method worked the best, and in one block had a conversion rate of 86% where out of 19 homes, 5 homes recycled before, and then after the team contacted them 17 of the 19 homes recycled. They helped their school start a new recycling program; they shared the results of their study on their local television station, and presented their research to the Mayor of Addison.

Team Truffala Seeds
West Lafayette, Indiana
Happy Hollow School
Students: Arthi, Rani
Teacher/Mentor: Paul Schwab
Team Truffala Seeds’ goal was to find a low cost and efficient way to clean up brown fields in the state of Indiana. Brown fields are vacant sites that are thought to be contaminated, such as abandoned gas stations, manufacturing plants and agricultural land that has high levels of pesticides. The team did extensive research and decided to do a phytoremediation experiment using several types of native grasses. Phytoremediation is the use of plants to remove toxins from the soil. The results indicated that phytoremediation done with annual rye plants removed toxins more effectively. Team Truffala Seeds recommends phytoremediation to communities with prevalent brown fields.

Team Little Reds
Las, Cruces, New Mexico
Zia Middle School
Students: Patrick, Rose, Alexis
Teacher/Mentor: Gloria Basden-Holzhauser, 7th grade Science teacher
Team Little Reds goal was to provide educational outreach and increase awareness about the reintroduction programs for the Mexican gray wolf. They created a wolf cartoon, two survey’s, created a teacher lesson unit, and got students and people in the community to write letters to government officials. They collected over 260 letters to mail to congressmen, had 28 middle school students, and 42 high school students participate in their survey. They are continuing to educate and place their outreach efforts in their school.

Team The Fireflies
Holladay, Utah
Olympus Junior High School
Students: Melissa, Lauren, Sonja
Teacher/Mentor: Eileen White, 8th grade Science teacher
The Fireflies goal was to educate people in their community about the energy wasted through incandescent light bulbs versus how much energy is saved by using compact florescent light bulbs. They created and delivered over 269 fliers, hung 10 fliers around their school, and surveyed 122 people. From their surveys and fliers they convinced 27 people to switch and purchase compact florescent light bulbs.

Team Environmental Nutrition Mission
Minden, Nevada
Pinon Hills Elementary School
Students: Leanna, Alexis, Ariah
Teacher/Mentor: Deborah Probert, 6th grade teacher
Team Environmental Nutrition Mission focused on unhealthy school lunches, nutrition/obesity, and recycling of lunch packaging materials. They asked the third graders to separate and put lunch recyclables into a different trash bin instead of throwing them away, and after just one week, about 315 pounds of recyclables were collected. The team wrote fliers that were sent home to parents informing them about healthier lunch options, and encouraging more recycling. An initial survey was conducted to find out how much fat and calories are in student’s lunch, and how many ate the school lunch or a lunch from home. Another survey conducted three months after the first showed that 55% of the third grade students are now packing a healthier lunch, and 60% are recycling more. The goal is to make lunchtime recycling at Pinon Hills Elementary School a permanent part of their school lunch program.

Team Water Wizards
Vista, California
Guajome Park Academy
Students: Matt, Manny, Veronica
Teacher/Mentor: Lisa Davis, 6th grade Math teacher
Team Water Wizards goal was to raise awareness in their community about water conservation. The team started a campaign to challenge other 6th graders to conserve water by taking shorter showers each day for an entire week, and collect pledges to fundraise for a charity in Africa called Play Pumps International, which is a non profit that gives Africans a source for clean water. To further promote the water conservation issue, the Water Wizards made an informational YouTube video and bumper stickers. Over 50 students participated, they raised over $900, and they continue to spread the word about water conservation and how people can help.

As Earth Day approaches, one of the most significant things you can do is to help a child celebrate nature and embrace a greener lifestyle. Here are ten ideas for creating a fun and meaningful Earth Day celebration.

1 – Picnic (with local food)

Get outdoors and enjoy a snack with the squirrels and ants. To really get the most out of this, take your favorite kid(s) to the market in preparation and let them search out local healthy foods. Even young kids can participate, choosing the apples, veggies and cheeses they want to include. So introduce them to the farmer’s market or local foods section of your neighborhood grocery. Look for organic and lower your impact by using reusable dinnerware and plates, or biodegradable paper plates.

Then head to your favorite city park or nearest lakeside picnic spot to relax. Note the trees, the wildlife, the wonderful spring flora, the plastic bags wafting in the breeze…what!? Be a good scout and pick up a bit of trash during your visit.

(Photo credit: Sebcz/Dreamstime.com)

Want to spend the summer restoring a wildlife habitat on the Dolores River? There is a camp for that. Or would you prefer learning first-hand how to cultivate a thriving organic farm? There is a camp for that, too.

With more than 5,000 overnight camps and more than 1,400 teen tours across the nation, there is a camp to suit the interests of almost every child. But we’re not talking basic glue noodles to paper, play tether ball and call-it-a-day sort of camps. We’re talking traveling the world, adapting to foreign cultures, nurturing wildlife and embracing conservation.

And the best part is these summer options are incorporating green practices and green teachings into every aspect of their programs.

“Most parents want to make sure their child comes back from camp with community service or academic credit, ” explains ChoiceCamps.com co-founder Peter Ross. ChoiceCamps.com is a new website that provides expert advice, online recommendations and testimonials from parents and campers on more than 300 of the best summer camps and teen travel programs.

“Often that credit takes the form of some environmental program. That could be anything from studying species migration to building a dam to help supply water to a village.”

“There really is a green theme throughout a lot of these camps,” Ross says. “And parents are certainly happy when their child is doing something like studying the ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands. That’s a life experience.”

Most camps on ChoiceCamps accept applications on a first come first serve basis, and nearly every camp listed on the site still has space available. Be sure to ask about any deals the camps may be running or any sibling or friend discounts they might be offering.

Choosing the Right Camp

With so many options, you want to be sure you’re signing up for the camp that best suits your family.

The most important thing is that you are matching the child to the camp. Certain programs are meant for certain kids, Ross says, so you’ll want to consider these three major points:

1. What does your child really want to get out of their summer break?

2. How long do you want your child to be at camp? Camp stays can range anywhere between five days to more than 30 days, but two week long programs are most popular.

3. Where is the camp located?

It’s also important to decide whether you’re looking into the more traditional overnight camps (usually for younger children) or a more travel-oriented our for teens. Teen tours generally include a community service component, a travel component or a language component – and often it’s all three. Some adventures accept kids at young as 13, but the majority caters to 16- to 18-year-olds. The groups are often smaller (10 to 40 campers) and the staff to camper ratio often higher.

Because teen-oriented trips feature more traveling than traditional camps, they tend to focus on interacting with the environment and methods of preservation (like “leave no trace” camping), says Ross. Overnight camps, on the other hand, can focus on stressing the importance of green practices like organic farming.

Here are a few of Green Right Now’s favorite Overnight Camps and Teen Tours:

Google has a way of attracting attention, whether it’s by upending cell phone paradigms with an open-source platform or frightening publishers with its quest to digitize every book ever written. Now environmental groups have reason to hope one of the search giant’s projects will raise eco-consciousness among people who spend more time playing with the latest techie fad than they do reading conservationist pamphlets.

The reason is Google Earth, a standalone application that has been much loved by travel enthusiasts and geography buffs for the last few years. The program is a viewer in which satellite photos are augmented with three-dimensional computer renderings of geological formations and man-made buildings. Viewing New York City on Google Earth, for instance, you can not only check out the treescape at Central Park from overhead but tilt toward the horizon and fly by buildings that jut up all around you.

With an update to the software issued this week, though, Google Earth users can glide out over the edge of Manhattan, hover above the Atlantic, and dip below to explore. The project has added huge chunks of data from undersea exploration to its database, and — now that it has worked out a programming limitation that assumed everything worth seeing was above the zero-elevation mark — users can see the wreck of the Titanic, chart debris floating far from land, and observe marine sanctuaries they could never visit in person.

Groups like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are excited about the development, and in fact have actively participated both in providing data and in encouraging Google to make it available.

NOAA and others are hoping that the easy availability of all these images will help land-lubbers connect with, as the group’s Richard Spinrad puts it, “the myriad issues affecting our ocean.” That could happen through the ease with which organizations can connect their own content to a given location’s Google Earth representation (already, National Geographic and BBC World are among the contributors; the National Snow and Ice Data Center uses it to demonstrate climate change’s effect on glaciers), or it might simply develop as users embrace the vicarious pleasures of undersea exploration, using an interface in which computer-generated waves ripple hypnotically above as you sink lower into millennia -old underwater canyons. (See this page for more on using the new features.)

If swimming through virtual water doesn’t create new environmentalists, though, another new Google Earth feature might: A historical viewing option lets users see time-lapse images that dramatize, say, urban sprawl or the impact of a hurricane. Google’s access to old images only goes back so far, of course, but the years to come are likely to offer enough dramatic changes to scare a Google Earther or two into taking climate change seriously.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Audubon has announced that its ongoing Pennies for the Planet project will support three specific conservation efforts in 2009.

The projects are:

• Project Puffin and the Seabird Restoration Program off the Maine coast. The Puffins have been restored to the island after once being driven off by hunters, but they must be protected as scientists learn more about how to save seabirds.

• Four Holes Swamp, an ancient swamp that supports otters, owls and rare plants in South Carolina as well as cypress trees that are hundreds of years old. Alligators and rare bats live in this soggy setting. Parts of the swamp are protected, but more land could be preserved.

• Wyoming’s “sagebrush sea,” an endangered habitat for pygmy rabbits, sage-grouse and pronghorns. Scientists are working to reclaim some of this area, to help save the native species, like the pronghorns, from being pushed aside by development and agriculture.

Pennies for the Planet involves children with these conservation efforts by teaching them about these specific programs, and then giving them a way to directly contribute. Kids collect jars of pennies to support the projects and also participate in environmental projects in their own communities.

Teachers interested in getting a program going in their classroom can receive a newsletter for children, awards and certificates and an educator’s guide at the Pennies for the Planet website.

Prizes for the fund raising include wrist bands and an Audubon Adventures Classroom kit, suitable for kids in grades 3-5. Children also will be able to post photos, drawings and letters about their involvement on the website. (Learn more about Audubon Adventures classroom programs on the Audubon website.)

Pennies for the Planet is funded by TogetherGreen, a collaboration between The National Audubon Society and Toyota, that is sustaining community conservation programs across the United States. Audubon launced Pennies for the Planet in 1995.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

They’ve sold the candy bars. They’ve sold the wrapping paper. Perhaps they’ve even sold cookie dough (not healthy) or had car washes (not good during droughts). The problem with typical school fund-raisers is that the kids just end up selling more stuff – at a time when the world could benefit from a little less stuff.

Thus, a green wave of school fund-raising efforts has washed across the country, and companies are springing up to meet that demand. Eco-friendly firms will provide everything from stainless steel water bottles to fair-trade T-shirts, energy-efficient light bulbs to recycled wrapping paper as alternative, Earth-friendly ways of raising money.

No small number of them were launched by environmentally sensitive parents who didn’t like what they saw their kids selling to friends and family.

The Green Schools Initiative – a non-profit group in California – has a far-reaching agenda to make schools across the country more environmentally conscious. Co-founder Deborah Moore said that a few years ago she began getting more requests from parents for ideas to raise money and serve a greater purpose at the same time.

“I just tried to collect some information to email the person, tell them there are other kinds of products they could sell,” Moore said. Since then, she said, there’s been a surge in “turn-key” green fund-raising businesses. (She offers numerous links to green fund-raising groups on the Initiative’s Web site.)

Many of the for-profit entrepreneurs see an opportunity to contribute to the environment and make money selling products that are both useful and earth-friendly.

Corey Berman launched Green Students Fundraising in 2007 and started providing CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) to schools, not just to raise money but to teach kids about the environment and save customers some electric-bill money. Today, they offer complete fund-raising packages to schools and sell all sorts of green products. Their most popular items are Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottles (pictured above – schools can earn $6 a bottle) and Nellie’s Dryerballs (to replace dryer sheets).

“We started with four pilot schools,” Berman said, “and we probably have around 200 now,” in Canada and across the U.S. His fund-raising program works like most others: They send information and promotional materials to schools, the schools collect orders for products, and his company sends the products back to the school for distribution to customers. He makes a profit, the school makes money, and the Earth benefits.

Lisa Olson was a PTA mom frustrated with the typical fund-raising products. Her desire to find something to make the world a little better, “and something I really needed,” led to Green Raising. The company launched two years ago and now offers numerous products (reusable grocery bags, fair trade chocolate, coffee and jewelry, and recycled gift wrap, for example) to about 1,100 schools and other non-profits. “We even have a reusable gift sack (pictured at left) made out of cloth that you can use over and over.” Her business has expanded beyond the ever-green West Coast and is growing in the Northeast, especially in New Jersey. “Many schools are adding spring fund-raisers tied to Earth Day (April 22),” she added.

Success isn’t measured strictly by how much money a school raises, Berman said, but also by the value of the products sold.

You’ve heard of No Child Left Behind. Now comes a new program with serious educational goals, but a different approach: No Child Left Inside proposes to re-invigorate environmental education by tapping into kids’ innate curiosity about nature. And communities across America are embracing the fresh, bottom-up concept by holding No Child Left Inside events.

At the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, for example, kids from the Kizarian School recently got their hands dirty with a variety of experiments held along the zoo’s Wetlands Trail, a five acre exhibit surrounding a huge pond.

“The kids were actually looking for real macro invertebrates in the pond, while another learning station had a watershed model to discuss pollutants and effects on water, and then water-quality sampling and testing were conducted,” says Shareen Knowlton, director of education for the Williams Park Zoo. As the children explored outside, zoo residents, Loki, a red-tail hawk, and Teko, a Screech Owl, were on-hand to help the kids learn about native species firsthand. “Being outside and learning, the kids light up one-hundred percent, and they were so thrilled to be there, discovering dragonflies and such. It was so incredible. And that’s what we experience all the time when we get the kids involved in the outdoors,” Knowlton says.

In Greenwood, Indiana, fifth graders at Clark Pleasant Intermediate School spent four days this past school year outside, learning how to navigate with maps and compasses. Then they took a four-day field trip to Eagle Creek Park, where teams of three to five students navigated through the park, locating checkpoints to solve a puzzle and open a treasure chest.

Getting kids outside is the number one goal of the The No Child Left Inside (NCLI) Act, which could be passed in 2008. If it’s approved, the law would authorize $500 million over five years to states that create “environmental literacy plans” in schools across America.

First introduced in October 2007 by U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and U.S. Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), the eco-conscious politicians have been heavily promoting the NCLI Act this year. In April, during Environmental Education Week and on Earth Day, the senators promoted their initiative at a field hearing in Laurel, Md. (held outside of course) of the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee.

“Teaching children about the environment and giving them a hands-on opportunity to experience nature should be an important part of the curriculum in our schools. This legislation will free up critical funding for environmental education to inspire the next generation of scientists and conservationists,” said Senator Reed in a media release. “This legislation is a smart investment in our children’s future and the future of our planet.”

“Children today spend more time inside watching television or playing video games than they do outdoors,” said Congressman Sarbanes. “One way to get our young people outside is to educate them about the environment; No Child Left Inside seeks to do this by incorporating environmental education and outdoor opportunities into our schools’ instructional curricula.”

The NCLI Coalition, formed in 2006, was created to promote the NCLI Act and expand environmental education. “Research has shown the value that environmental education brings to schools. Kids grow more engaged in their work and perform better on assessments in every subject. We believe that all children should be given the chance to learn more about their world,” said Tom Waldron, spokesperson for the NCLI Coalition.

“We currently have over 235 organizations as members, representing more than 20 million people. But more individuals are still needed to truly make a difference,” Waldron admits.

You can become a NCLI Coalition member by visiting the group’s website, where you can also learn how to hold No Child Left Inside Days in your community. The website also helps you send a note of support to lawmakers, asking them to pass the NCLI Act, and explains why environmental education is important, citing studies like the one that found 45 million Americans think the oceans are a source of freshwater.

Many environmental advocates and educators are pushing for No Child Left Inside because so many schools are being forced to scale back on their environmental programs and cancel field trips. Environmentalists point to two factors: the unintended consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act and a lack of funding for environmental programs.

Because the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) raised the content standards and testing requirements for reading, math, and science, the change translated into more classroom time, and less outdoor time; environmental education got lost in the shuffle.

“Unfortunately, environmental education has not been a priority under the Bush Administration, but this legislation will begin to change that,” Reed said.

Key elements to the NCLI Act will include:

• Funding to train teachers to deliver high quality environmental education and use the local environment as an extension of the classroom.

• Incentives for states to help prepare students for the environmental challenges of the future.

• Encouragement for teachers, administrators, and school systems to make time for environmental education and integrate it across core subject areas.

In addition, the legislation also would re-establish the Office of Environmental Education within the U.S. Department of Education to oversee critical environmental education activities; and authorize the Secretary of Education to award competitive matching grants to nonprofit organizations, states, and local education agencies for activities to improve and support environmental education.

Over 100 leading environmental organizations support the initiative, including the Earth Day Network, Ecological Society of America, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Sierra Club.

Getting Kids Involved

Games are essential to getting your kids involved in the outdoors and the NCLI website can help you get started.

One fun activity the NCLI Coalition suggests is called “Schoolyard Bingo,” a fun variation on the scavenger hunt, where cards are made up with a variety of categories and each student must complete the the bingo card either by drawing or describing an object found in the Outdoor Classroom.

Find out how to have a “No Child Left Inside Day” at your school and see the website’s interactive map to see what U.S. schools are doing coast to coast.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

By Barbara Kessler

Worms. These lower invertebrates have gotten such a bad rap. No one really gives them a thought, except that organic gardeners know they’ve got good soil when they see plenty of worms at work aerating and fertilizing it.

For the uninitiated, worms can be your best friend when it comes to reducing household trash. Just toss your organic kitchen scraps into a bin of worms; check back later and they’ve turned the trash into a rich compost for your garden. Now that is recycling.

For a top-of-the-line worm composting kit, check out this model from The Worm Lady, aka Mary Appelhof, the woman who wrote Worms Eat My Garbage, a seminal work in composting lit. You get the bin, the book and a starter bag of Red Wiggler worms (would you want any other kind?) for $79 or $92, depending on the size of the bin. This is a great project, too, for the science classroom. See this article from The Worm Digest on worm raising for kids.

Now to put your fears to rest, we’ve heard that this composting method is not smelly if handled correctly and we’ve got friends who will verify this. That’s why you hire the experts, the worms. They can eat up to half their weight in waste every day.

This type of composting also can help you get rid of old newspapers. Yes, newspapers can be sent out for recycling. But they also can be turned to compost. The worms, in fact, require newspapers or other paper products as bedding in their compost bins. We’re not sure what the worms get from newspapers nutritionally — maybe they just like keeping up with all the dirt?