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A program to learn from

I'm a little late on this -- like, three weeks late -- but this article about a San Francisco high school curriculum that immerses urban kids into the surrounding environment is heartening. Well, my first reaction is frustration and "why do we need a special program to introduce kids to nature?" but recognizing the state of the union at this point in time, this is way better than the status quo nothing.

The program, sponsored by the Goldman Environmental Prize, "seeks to educate kids about both environmental science and the history of environmental activism." Which is cool. Nothing like evoking past activism to get kids -- or people of any age, really -- fired up about their potential.

A school in San Francisco is taking the program a step farther, involving other entities to create an even wider and more comprehensive teaching tool. Check it out:

The students listened to [a habitat restoration expert] before going out into the Presidio [neighborhood] to collect air-pollution monitoring devices they had set out the week before. Later in the day, they would analyze the data from the devices -- basically cardboard boxes that capture particulates on a sticky matrix -- to arrive at estimates of general air-pollution loads.

Imagine: sit down and chat with the experts, go out and do in-the-field work, and make it relevant to your own life and neighborhood.

Why isn't this happening in every school across the country?

Media Shower: A weekly roundup

Wow, I guess I underestimated my ability to influence coverage here at Grist. If you haven't noticed, environmental media has been getting a lot of play around here lately. So, this week I'm simply going to provide a roundup of green-media topics appearing on Grist (and elsewhere):

Obama and Lugar introduce ‘American Fuels Act’

I'm not in the habit of regurgitating press releases, but one I just got from Obama's office seems significant, so I'm reprinting it below the fold. (As I'm sure our faithful readers will hasten to point out, it's an ethanol bill.) Discuss.

Francisca Porchas, clean-bus campaigner, answers readers’ questions

In her work with the Bus Riders Union, Francisca Porchas has helped prevent 33 premature deaths, 805 asthma attacks, and 7,000 lost workdays -- just by convincing Los Angeles to replace dirty diesel buses with ones that run on compressed natural gas. Answering reader questions, Porchas shares more impressive stats about her org's successes, discusses her strategy for luring drivers out of their cars, and explains the meaning of "drive-by pollution."

It’s Déjà Ew All Over Again, Again

Sighting of ivory-billed woodpecker questioned by new batch of experts Ivory-billed woodpecker, we hardly knew ye. And then ye came back and we acted like we’d known ye all along. […]

It’s Déjà Ew All Over Again

Drill-happy senators go after the Arctic Refuge yet again It seems like just three months ago that oil-thirsty congresscritters were pawing at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge like horny adolescents […]

Speaking of new urbanism

From AP: "Fastest-growing counties suburban, rural"

"I think low density is the attraction," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "People would rather make a long commute and have a big yard and a big house."

Sigh.

Houston kids living near a Superfund site tell their stories in pictures

Collage: Wassim Elmetni (age 11). “Many Diversified Interests” sounds like a line from a college application, or advice from a responsible money manager. In fact, though, it’s the name of […]

Bike Against! collective

I met Raphael, the head of this Bicycle Coop in Fort Collins. They have a number of volunteers who fix bicycles and make them available for needy people. They recently shipped an entire truckload of cycles to a poor New Mexico community, and set up a repair shop with donated tools. They also conducted some training sessions on maintenance.

They give bicycles away to any needy people. If you can afford a bicycle, they ask for a donation.

Poll finds melange of random public opinions on energy; nation reels

This poll will no doubt be used by a variety of groups for a variety of political purposes -- mostly good, since it might actually prompt some political action on the coming energy crisis. Whatever works.

But one fact hovers over polls like this, unmentionable in polite company. Not being polite, I'll mention it: The American people are pretty ignorant about the global energy situation -- like, let's face it, most of the world's people are, about most things. In light of that fact, what on earth is the poll supposed to prove?

Does the fact that most people think there's no energy crisis, but Bush isn't doing enough to address it, make that a coherent position? Does the fact that 3 out of 10 people think oil's going to run out within 25 years give that number any special weight? Some 89% think oil companies are to blame for our energy problems. Does that make it so?

Polls like this are thin, because on broad, complex, and not-very-often-discussed issues like this, the public just doesn't know. They rely on their leaders to know stuff like this, and to lead.

There's a chicken-and-egg quality to polling, where public officials cite polls to justify positions and policies, despite the fact that public opinion was basically shaped by those positions and policies.

Facts are facts. Leadership is leadership. We'll know it when we see it.