There’s a lot of talk these days of “thinking outside the box.” Whether for kids in the classroom or companies in the marketplace, it’s an ability to be cultivated. People who think outside the box are risk takers, good problem solvers, and work efficiently and creatively with others. Spending time outdoors as a child imparts many of those skills. According to Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Lab, interviews of all potential candidates include questions about their play experiences as children because they’ve found a direct correlation between hands-on play and superior problem-solving skills. But how do you take risks and work creatively; how are you a resilient, strong problem-solver when you’ve, literally, grown up inside the box?

Putting the Fun, Not Fearful, Foot Forward into the Outdoors

A child born in the last two decades has spent most of his youth indoors, surrounded by the roof, four walls, and floor of his home. Protecting children’s safety is of course paramount. But when childhood is a sanitized, climate-controlled environment it does our children no favors. They become like fairytale characters, locked in high towers for their own protection, conditioned to fear the very things a child’s instinct draws them to, from digging in dirt and mud to feeling the sun on their face.

“We have shifted our culture from one that is engaged in a healthy, interactive, and imaginative way to one that is inwardly facing, sedentary and expecting things to be fed to us,”

says Dr. Michael Rich, Director of the Center of Media and Child Health, Children’s Hospital Boston,leading kids to feel unmotivated and even afraid of playing outdoors. In a country where childhood obesity rates have more than doubled in the last twenty years, where we are the largest consumer of ADHD medications in the world, and where the use of antidepressants in pediatric patients has risen sharply, we cannot afford to succumb to fear when kids’ health and happiness depends on them growing outside the box.

The outdoors is a wonderful teacher, offering kids so many important, good lessons, such as how to respect and care for nature, how to be resilient in the face of challenge and imperfection, and how to use your imagination to make your own fun.

Here are some top fears kids (and grownups) have about playing outside and some information to combat them:

Coming Clean! (Fear of Dirt):

Many happy, healthy, well-adjusted adults in American society grew up with dirt under their fingernails—it’s an occupational hazard of making mud pies. But kids today have been bathed in hand sanitizer since birth and may not see getting messy as a good thing. It is! Studies have shown that plating in the dirt isn’t just fun, it can boost overall happiness and health, due to naturally occurring bacteria in soil that help fortify children’s immune systems and stimulate the production of serotonin, improving mood.

So go ahead, let your kids get dirty. And remember: “Most of the germs lurking about our environment and that live on our bodies are not only harmless; they’ve been with us for millennia,” says “Martin Blaser, MD, professor of Internal Medicine at New York University.

Don’t Bug Me! (Fear of Insects)

For kids who are afraid of bugs, playing outside can give them the creepy-crawlies. But, insects are a fun way to learn about the natural world, according to April Gower, executive vice president of the Entomological Foundation.

“Children love to observe ants crawling in an ant farm, or to see a praying mantis move its head. For younger children, insects are still at the eye level.”

So how do you help your insect-phobe relax and enjoy time outside? Experts say the best way is to model calm behavior yourself so as not to reinforce the fear. Education can also help: go to www.entfdn.org and explore the educational resources section for kids’ activities and projects.

Running Hot and Cold! (Fear of Inclement Weather)

While you’re not going to let your kids play outside during a blizzard or hurricane, many days of the year, it’s perfectly fine to play outside even when it’s technically too hot, too cold, or too rainy. Taking kids out in different weather builds their mental and physical flexibility and resilience. Common sense measures are the word of the day, so kids don’t miss out on the fun. On very hot days, seek shade, slather kids in sunscreen and offer water and popsicles to stay hydrated. In very cold weather, bundle up, coat lips and cheeks with petroleum jelly and keep hot chocolate on hand. And in the rain, wear your boots, bring an umbrella… and don’t forget to sing in the rain!

Alyson Weinberg is a Washington DC-based writer specializing in issues concerning children and families. She is an award-winning speech writer, feature writer and communications strategist and the former editor of Spirit, the magazine of the Special Olympics movement. Alyson’s articles and editorials have appeared in national print media, textbooks, and on the web. She and her husband Josh live with their two daughters, Josie and Raina, in Potomac, MD.

A super-toxic type of rodenticide, or rat poison, has flooded the market in recent decades. It’s a concoction more toxic than traditional rat poisons and more persistent in the environment. The brand names include Havoc, Talon, Contrac, Maki, Ratimus and d-CON Mouse Pruf II.

Because it isn’t just rats that come into contact with rodenticides, these very potent chemicals have serious consequences for children, pets and for wildlife. These super potent variants have a longer half-life before they break down, which means they can stay in the environment longer and work their way up the food chain.

Amazingly, between 12,000 and 15,000 children under age six are exposed to dangerous levels of rat poison every year, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. From 1999 to 2003, 25,549 children under age six had symptoms of poisoning after exposure to nine rodenticides.

EPA says that rat poisons are the leading cause of pesticide-related visits to health care providers for children under age six. Low-income minority children are disproportionately at risk, one New York study found.

Children Uniquely at Risk

Children are uniquely vulnerable to pesticides. In terms of their biology and health, they are not just miniature adults. Their internal organs are developing and their enzymatic, metabolic and immune systems may provide less protection than those of adults.

Young children are at risk also because they may innocently handle the products, play on the floor and put objects in their mouths. EPA’s website says, “Adverse effects of pesticide exposure range from mild symptoms of dizziness and nausea to serious, long-term neurological, developmental and reproductive disorders.”

Under EPA Administrator Carol Browner, EPA announced a policy stating that regulatory standards would take into account children’s susceptibility or explain why that was not necessary and President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order in 1997 making this a government-wide policy, both good starts.

Wildlife Harmed and Killed

An American Bald Eagle perched on a tree in Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Because they are persistent, the products can stay in an animal’s body for six months or longer and work their way up the food chain. They are anti-coagulants and once in an animal’s system, they prevent blood from clotting. Rats that have eaten the poison might hemorrhage and bleed to death. They can stagger around dazed for days, making them easy prey for predators.

EPA biologist Bill Ericks in 2006 wrote that hundreds of wildlife poisoning deaths had occurred and that the pesticides had been found in hundreds of animals. “We’re finding this stuff all over the place,” said John Elliott, an Environment Canada scientist who co-authored an owl study published last year. “There’s a lot more rodenticides in the food chain than we would have ever thought. We’re surprised that there’s that much of the stuff kicking around.”

What Is EPA Doing?

In 2011 EPA issued new rules, but they did not go as far as some wildlife advocates would want.

Reporting for Investigate West, Robert McClure wrote in December 2010 that the Clinton EPA required reformulation of the products to taste bitter, making them unpalatable when eaten and required the addition of a bright dye to better determine if children had put the substances in their mouths. But then the Bush EPA, after meetings with the industry, “reversed course,” according to McClure.

Manufacturers are still fighting, balking at responsible action.

What You Can Do

While it’s been years without systemic government action, and it could be years longer, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself, loved ones and wildlife. Keep in mind the biggest risk comes from using these indoors, where kids are most apt to find them. But outdoor contact can happen too.

• If you see multiple cases dead wildlife, alert local animal control authorities.
• Teach your kids not to play with dead animals and to recognize rat poison.
• Educate yourself about the products. Visit the National Pesticide Information Center, 800-858-7378 or http://npic.orst.edu/.
• Use non-chemical methods of rodent control such as rat traps. We discourage glue boards since they can be inhumane.
• Practice prevention. Don’t attract rodents with trash, pet food and bird seed. Seal openings to your home.
• Use safer products. Visit http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/reregistration/rodenticides/rodent-bait-station.html to find a list of products.
• Make sure pest control companies that you hire are licensed and do not use unsafe products.
• Never dispose of a pesticide in the toilet, storm drains, sewer systems or waterways.
• Check out these resources about protecting children: http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/Publications/catalog/subpage3.htm#children

Acknowledgement:  Thanks to NWF senior scientist Doug Inkley for editing this post.

Here at the National Wildlife Federation, we feel that every child is important and that they represent our future. There are many things that threaten their existence – poverty, hunger, illness, lack of quality education, climate change, extreme weather events, and unspeakable crime among others.  But there are also many things that support their existence – love, families, caring teachers and adults, friends, medicine, superior education, and communities.

As we approach the New Year, my NWF Eco-Schools USA colleagues and I wanted to wish you the very best of the season, and to know that our hearts, thoughts, and prayers are with you all during these holidays, and especially with the families and friends of those who perished in Newtown. For most of us, this will be a time of joy – I intend to hug my nieces and make sure that they know that I will always be there to support them in whatever way that I can.  For truly, as Angela Schwindt wrote, “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

Camping in a pool of light on a dark night creates a close and cozy feel. Photo donated by National Wildlife Photo Contest participant Derek Gulden.

But to be forewarned is to be forearmed, if by armed you mean having a rain suit at hand during a weekend that may feature a cloud burst. Fortunately, for those who travel beyond reach of weather reports, nature provides a lot of clues about oncoming storms and sunshine .

Even close to home, these clues can be helpful. Are you taking part in NWF’s 8th annual Great American Backyard Campout on June 23? Then you can use these 12 tidbits that day to test your kids’ weather-reading ability, making a game out of their skill while at the same time bringing them closer to nature:

1. Red sky: If the sky is red at night, the next day will likely be clear; if red in the morning, expect rain by the end of the day; remember, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in morning, sailor take warning.”
2. Gray morning: A gray dawn with foggy valleys indicates—surprise!—a clear day ahead.
3. Listen to frogs: Several hours before a storm hits, frogs increase their calling, apparently because the higher pre-storm humidity keeps their skin moist, allowing them to stay out of water longer.
4. Summer halos: a hazy ring around the sun or moon in summer is a reliable sign that the weather pattern is in for a change, usually bringing rain.
5. Dewy dawn: heavy morning or late-evening dew (or frost in cold months) may indicate 12 hours of continued good weather.
6. Hair: the hair on your head will contract when damp and relax when dry, so straighter hair means dry weather, wavier or curlier means wet.
7. Animals: cattle gather in lower elevations and away from exposed hills when the weather is about to change for the worse; in mountainous areas, deer, wild sheep and elk move from mountainsides to sheltered valleys as storms approach and go back up when the blow is over.
8. Wind direction: winds from the south tend to bring rain (old adage: “Wind from the south brings rain in its mouth”), while winds from the north are associated with clear weather. On a similar note, if the wind has been blowing for the past few hours, rushing clouds along, and then suddenly dies, you are in for a major storm.
9. Your nose: if you live on the Great Plains you may smell approaching rain—the lower pressure and higher humidity that come with rain cause the ground to emit a rich, sweet odor similar to that of fresh-mown hay.
10. Campfire smoke: if smoke hangs low to the ground and drifts off into surrounding tree branches, rain is possible; if the smoke rises in a straight, vertical column, anticipate fair weather.
11. Crickets: If you count the number of times a cricket chirps in 14 seconds, then add 40, you can get a close estimate of the air temperature in Fahrenheit; for example, 25 chirps in 14 seconds plus 40 equals 65 degrees F (note: air temperature on the ground where  crickets hang out may be several degrees cooler than the air around your head).
12. Coffee: stir strongly brewed coffee (no instant) in a mug with vertical sides to make bubbles form—if the bubbles scatter and then gather in the center, expect fair weather; if they cling to the sides of the cup, rain is possible.

Sign Up for the Great American Backyard Campout

On June 23rd , NWF will hold its 8th annual Great American Backyard Campout, in which families across the nation—from beginners to seasoned outdoor enthusiasts—pitch tents and spend the night outdoors. Last year, about 175,000 people joined in, more than 60 percent of them setting up camp in a backyard.

The campout is a lot of fun for kids, but it’s also more than that. In recent years, the experience of childhood has moved indoors—today, 25 percent of kids play outside daily, as opposed to 75 percent a generation ago—taking a toll on children. By participating in the Great American Backyard Campout, your children will explore the outdoors and put nature back into childhood. This activity can yield significant results: A study in the 1990s found that people who grew up to be conservationists almost invariably had someone in their lives who introduced them to nature as a child.

The Great American Backyard Campout: Sign up.

This blog was adapted from Basic Illustrated Weather Forecasting by Michael Hodgson. Copyright © 2008 by Michael Hodgson. Used by permission of FalconGuides, a division of Globe Pequot Press.

Photos for this blog were donated by competitors in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 42nd annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. In addition to cash awards, winning photos appear in National Wildlife magazine and on the NWF website.

This fall between wrapping up final projects in my second to last semester and working as a part time intern at National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center I find myself reminiscing of the days of play dates and spending every last minute of daylight making up games and skits with my neighbors in the backyard. It amazes me now to know that what I thought were just silly games and distractions from my homework were actually essential to my physical and mental health and development.

Just Play

Photolibrary.com

Additionally a study from 2010 found that 78% of educators stated that their students were better able to concentrate when they regularly participated in unstructured play outdoors.

 While getting kids to play outside may not seem like a difficult task, today the average child in the United States spends 27% of their day watching TV compared to only 1% of their day outdoors.

As someone who is not at all far removed from this generation of indoor kids, and can already see a disconnect between many of my peers and nature, I am worried to see what impact the trend of disconnection from nature will have on future generations (potentially my future children) and the environment/world in which they live.

Kids’ busy schedules of school, organized sports, and extracurricular activities already leave little time for free play outdoors, even without the hours spent in front of electronic media each day. After a long day of school, homework and extracurricular activities lounging around and watching TV, playing video games, or texting with friends can be an easy way to relax for kids and eventually becomes part of their daily routine. With less free time to play and explore outdoors (and less encouragement to do so) kids are missing out on an important opportunity to grow, learn, and to just be kids.  

Learning through Play in Nature

In the past few years I have been lucky to have several jobs and volunteer opportunities working directly with children and from these experiences I have learned that the kids were more engaged and enthusiastic about learning and being active when they had freedom in leading and creating games and activities. 

As a camp counselor, I have seen groups of six year olds that were previously distracted, homesick, and hesitant to interact with each other connect over catching toads and building a fort out of fallen tree branches. A shy ten year old who was afraid to play competitive sports broke out of her shell and made friends by teaching others a game in the lake. While I would like to take credit for the advancement that kids make when I work with them, I know much of it is due to what they learn from playing with each other and with nature.

Beyond improved mental health and social skills, positive experiences playing outdoors can also help children develop a love and interest for the natural world--I know this was true in my life.

Prescribing Play Outdoors

Given all of the benefits that natural play and the outdoors offer, we really can’t risk letting kids stay inside with the TV. So doctors- write a prescription for daily time outdoors, teachers- assign homework to create a new game, and parents schedule a play date in the backyard: get your patients, students, and children to go outside and play!

One of the greatest gifts I received from my parents was not a tangible gift at all. It was a gift of an unquenchable curiosity about nature.

Mom and Dad loved the outdoors, and they spent their free time in nature with their four sons, fostering in us a fascination for nature that lives on today. Mom always encouraged us to “find something to do” outside, and I often followed Dad as he trained his beagles and in later years hunted with him in the fields and forests of western Pennsylvania.

Admittedly, it was a lot easier to get kids outside back in those days. There were far fewer of the distractions that keep youngsters indoors. My hometown of Pittsburgh launched KDKA, the world’s first commercial radio station and later the first round-the-clock commercial television channel. At first, that was the only channel we could watch on our 16-inch Crosley television, which seemed to take forever to warm up.

These days, children are bombarded by hundreds of television channels displayed on high-definition, flat screens complete with theater-quality surround sound. They create an endless stream of text messages on their cell phones and have access to the Internet, games, gadgets and seemingly endless other high-tech distractions.

By today’s standards, my family did not have a lot of money to buy toys. Mom and Dad paid $7,000 for our home, and Dad worked 12 hours or more a day to earn his $60 weekly salary. Computers or other electronic gadgets didn’t exist. The only “cell phone” in our world was on Dick Tracy’s wrist.

Yet we never thought of ourselves as poor because we were rich in imagination and exploration. Several hundred acres of field and forest awaited us just outside our front door, and we explored every inch, finding simple joys at every turn. Examples:

• I remember watching in wonder as we observed a doe nursing her twin fawns at a stream bank.
• We were inspired by the size of a great horned owl, which startled us as it silently glided overhead before landing in a nearby white pine.
• Collecting rusty nails and scraps of wood from nearby home construction sites, we built tree shacks in the aspen stands.
• We built earth-filled log dams in Girty’s Run and stocked the impoundments with bluegills that we transplanted from a nearby lake.
• We emulated Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett by building a network of “wilderness” trails with some neighborhood friends and our pet beagle.

Before many parents turned to prescriptions to calm their hyperactive kids, recess periods in our elementary school’s playground provided important outlets for students like me to expend pent-up energy. As much as I enjoyed three daily recesses, the best part of my day was running into the woods after school.

Today, I worry about how much time kids spend indoors in front of televisions, computer screens and game devices. I worry, too, about how little connection children have with nature and how little physical exercise they are getting. Based on my own experiences, I believe unstructured outdoor time allows children the freedom to explore, create and imagine. Kids who spend at least an hour each day outdoors generally are healthier—physically and mentally—and, according to recent studies, they sleep better.

Citing a rise in childhood obesity rates and a litany of health problems related to sedentary lifestyles, Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), chairman of the Senate’s Subcommittee on National Parks and co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Outdoor Recreation Caucus, insists that getting kids out into nature should be a bipartisan concern. Having worked at the Colorado Outward Bound School for 20 years, including a decade as its executive director, he knows what he is talking about.

At a recent congressional briefing on the benefits of reconnecting youngsters with nature, Senator Udall and Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) announced their intention to introduce Senate and House versions of the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act. If enacted, the legislation would support state, local and federal strategies to connect our nation’s youth with the outdoors through natural play, recreation such as camping, hiking, hunting and fishing, public health plans, service learning and other initiatives. For the sake of our children, I hope the bill receives bipartisan support and is passed quickly.

In the meantime, each of us must do our part to get children into the outdoors to discover the wonders of nature, as I did many years ago. It’s a gift that continues to renew my spirit and one that I hope to pass on to my grandchildren.

My son, John John, playing outside.

As a mom, protecting my toddler son from all kinds of hazards is important and, honestly, a little daunting.

To consider that the air he breathes each day could be potentially harmful is scary.  However, we all have a chance to impact this issue.

Air toxics include some of the most hazardous air pollutants known to us. In addition to mercury and arsenic, coal-burning power plants emit lead, other heavy metals, dioxin and acid gases that threaten public health, child development, and our nation’s wildlife.

Mercury Threatens Brain Development

Mercury can be particularly dangerous to unborn babies and young children because as a neurotoxin, it can damage the developing nervous system and impair children’s thinking and learning.

For adults, mercury can harm peripheral vision, cause muscle weakness, affect coordination and impair speech, hearing and walking. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies, mercury contamination in the U.S. is so widespread, as many as one in six women of childbearing age is likely to have mercury levels in her blood high enough to put her baby at risk.

But don’t fret! You can help!

The EPA is proposing tighter limits on toxic air pollutants and you can help make sure they happen!  Send a message to the EPA in support of strong limits on mercury and air toxics. Your action will not only help protect loons (the bird, not your crazy cousin), but also the health of you and your children.

We make it easy – the letter is already written for you and will take less than a minute (I dare say 30 seconds) for you to edit and send.

According to the EPA’s analysis, each year the pollutant limits are in place will prevent as many as:

• 120,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms
• 11,000 fewer cases of acute bronchitis among children
• 17,000 premature deaths
• 11,000 heart attacks
• 220,000 cases of respiratory symptoms
• 12,000 emergency room and hospital visits

Speak Up to Stop Air Pollution Today

Take a minute and send a letter to the EPA in support of limits on toxic air pollution. It’s one of the easiest ways to make a huge impact for our nation’s children and our nation’s wildlife.

Ten years later, the release of the film The Last Mountain brings to light similar haunting facts about the carnage and destruction inflicted on rural Appalachia, West Virginia happening today.  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  joins in the fight alongside residents of the Coal River Valley in West Virginia, who endure earsplitting explosions, extreme flooding, raining boulders that tear through communities, toxic sludge and poisoned water wells, life threatening exposure to toxins, and devastating pre-mature deaths.  

Roughly half the electricity in the U.S. comes from burning coal—one-third of that coal comes from the Appalachian Mountains. Yet there is a vast amount of mis-education about coal.  In the film, we are shown a school full of young imperiled children attending an elementary school coated in silica dust just below an impoundment holding 2.8 billion gallons of sludge.  Classrooms are filled with cancer and autism clusters that clearly defy statistical logic.  I couldn’t help but think about the irony that just weeks ago fourth-grade curriculum materials developed by the American Coal Foundation were distributed to tens of thousands of teachers.  The materials included no mention of the adverse environmental or health impacts of coal, presenting an unfair and unbalanced picture for our children.

So while the fourth largest coal company continues to blow up mountain tops for coal, we not only have local communities enduring life-threatening exposure to toxins, but the coal industry is using the classroom as a forum to propagandize kids on behalf of their product leaving out critical implications?  

As the future of the Appalachian Mountains holds great potential to harvest wind energy as an alternative, children have a right to know the full story on electricity production via coal burning.  Environmental and energy-based lesson plans and curricula should present a fair and balanced viewpoint and prepare our children for a complex and possibly perilous set of future environmental realities.

Learn more and get involved in the movement to end mountain top removal. 

The Last Mountain opened last weekend in New York City and Washington, DC. See when this gripping documentary will be playing in a city near you.

Take action against mercury and air toxins from coal-fired power plants!

Photo via Flickr's DRwise

When I arrive to visit my friend Jon in Pennsylvania, two things are guaranteed to happen within a minute of walking through the door:

• His 4-year-old son Jack comes tearing across the house and hug-tackles my leg like a mini Jack Lambert
• His 5-year-old daughter Emma asks if we can play Nintendo Wii (her parents assiduously limit her TV time so she looks forward to the treat of getting to “beat” me at Wii Tennis when I stay over)

I don’t usually push outdoor time because I know being a parent of young kids is hard enough without some bossy treehugger demanding to be escorted to the nearest venue for communing with nature. So it was a nice surprise when Jon suggested we go for a trail walk during my visit last weekend.

The first part of the walk on a paved path along a cold water stream was mostly spent reminding the kids of the rules that keep them safe – watch out for poison ivy, walk on the right side of the path to avoid the speeding cyclists. (“Really, Lance Armstrong?” Jon asked after one went flying past us on the bucolic trail like it was time trial in the Tour de France.)

On the paved path, Jack and Emma seemed to feel confined – they constantly veered to its edges to look at flowers or to pick up sticks (seems like Murphy’s Law of trail walking that the best sticks always hide in the poison ivy). It wasn’t until we went off the pavement that nature sprang to life for the kids. I’ll let Jon take the story from there on his parenting blog, Every Day Father:

After a short walk we departed the paved trail and followed a winding dirt trail through the woods and closer to the creek. We stopped and watched a man fly fish as 2 Canadian geese flew just feet from our faces. Jack had found a stick which he planned on using to protect us: “If I see a shark or an alligator, I will stab it.” As we walked through the woods, we talked about ferns and hostas. The kids laughed at my assertion that hostas are a perfect toilet paper substitute, if you have to [go] in the woods. The moment was broken up by Jack’s discovery of dinosaur tracks (deer & dog). The Green Miles agreed and assessed them as that of a T-Rex. This caused Jack to hold his stick at the ready.

Our hike led us to a rocky beach along the creek. Both kids ran to the nearest rock deposit and began hurling stones into the creek. Jack nearly hit each of us with errant throws. We showed the kids how to skip rocks. Emma was elated when she finally got one to skip. We found a trout minnow and followed it with our fingers until Jack shouted, “I see it! I see it! Ahhhhh, it’s so tiny.” After throwing, the negotiated for, 2 more rocks … we headed up the trail. The kids kept stopping to point out ferns, nests, and tiny wild flowers. Jack picked a purple wild flower for Emma, because she loves purple and it is a “girl flower”. I found myself reconnecting with my childhood and all the time I spent in the woods. My thoughts were pleasantly interrupted by Emma saying, to no one in particular, “I like the peace and quiet of the hike.” It was a unexpected thing to hear.

That night, I asked the kids for their favorite part of the day’s walk. “The secret trail!” Emma exclaimed. Never mind that it was a beaten path used daily by anglers and dog walkers – to Emma, the moment her dad had stepped off the paved path, we were discovering new adventures in our own special world. Who knew where it would lead?

When the trail wound back to the paved path and we backtracked to where we’d first veered off the main trail, Emma had a moment of stunned realization that we were back where we started – not quite Dorothy waking up in bed back in Kansas, but you get the idea. What had seemed like a small difference to me – paved path versus dirt trail – had made all the difference for her.

And as for Jack? Being Jack, of course he liked the dinosaur tracks best. I don’t think it will change his career trajectory from bone-crunching middle linebacker to bone-dusting archaeologist, but if even a little of his boundless energy is directed towards new outdoor discovery, I think the world will be a safer place.

Emma had found a peaceful secret place to share with her dad. And Jack had found a place fraught with danger, filled with sharks, alligators and dinosaurs from which we might need him to save us at any moment (using only his tiny stick, of course). How many other activities could lead two very different children to two completely different places of happiness and contentment?

Click here to view the embedded video.

The U.S. Department of Education announced today the creation of the Green Ribbon Schools program, which will recognize schools that have taken great strides in greening their curricula, buildings, school grounds and overall building operations.

In a time when budgets are tight, the Department of Education is encouraging schools to engage in a creative win-win scenario – cutting expenses while using the school facilities as dynamic learning labs for students.

Here’s what Education Secretary Arne Duncan had to say:

“Environmental literacy is an important part of a well-rounded, world-class education. Through the Green Ribbon Schools program, we’ll be holding up schools that are leading the way in teaching science and in ways that show students the importance of developing clean energy sources and sustainable solutions for the environment.”

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley also spoke about the importance of environmental education and green schools to prepare Americans for the coming clean energy economy.

The effort to get the Green Ribbon program adopted by the Department was conceived and coordinated by the Campaign for Environmental Literacy (CEL), and the Green Ribbon campaign’s steering committee – CEL, Earth Day Network, the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. Green Building Council – worked for over a year to make this happen. Seventy-five national and state organizations also supported the push for the initiative.

We are excited that this federal initiative supports the work of the National Wildlife Federation, which has helped more than 4,000 schools go green over the last 15 years through Certified Schoolyard Habitats and Eco-Schools USA.

Stay tuned for more details about Green Ribbon Schools in the coming weeks…