I went “home” last week. Not to the house I grew up in or even my hometown, but still I was home as I walked under the canopy of 100-foot-tall Eastern forest trees that blanket the Ramapo Mountains of southern New York State. These are the trees of my childhood – maple, oak, beech, hemlock, shagbark hickory, black walnut, white pine.

When I was a child, our family would take walks in fields, pastures and woods, always with an eye toward adventure, but with a good measure of biology and botany thrown into the mix. Mom named the wild flowers and Dad pointed out bark patterns and leaf arrangements to help me sort out the multitude of hardwood trees. In the evergreen world, pine needles were long and soft, hemlock short and flat, and spruce short and sharp.

There is a unique aroma in the hot summer woodland air made up of  growing green plants, sap oozing from cracked bark and dry leaves composting underfoot. It is a smell deep and rich; its fragrance almost takes your breath away.

I have now lived in almost every geographic region of the United States. I love the tall straight pines of the Cascade Mountains, the pungent aroma of desert sage brush and the rolling, grass-covered hills of the Kansas prairie. But for me, walking in the Eastern forest, with its magnificent hardwoods and lacy understory trees, is like coming home.

Have you ever heard of an invasive worm? Well, such a thing exists, and some say it’s actually a threat to forests in some northern areas of the United States. 

Vital as native earthworms are to the health of our soils, non-native worms from Europe and Asia are devouring everything on the forest floor, including tree seedlings. By eliminating the slowly decaying cover of fallen leaves and other dead plant material, they are hindering the forest’s ability to resist erosion, produce wildflowers and other low-level plants, and provide habitat for the ground-dwelling animal species that live within the cover.

Read more about these wayward worms here and here.

Lewis Ziska, a weed ecologist with the Agriculture Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, may have found a way to fight global warming with weeds. According to an article in the New York Times, Ziska conducted several experiments that tested the effects of changing CO2 concentrations on different crop and weed species. He found out that weeds respond a lot better than the crops do. In one experiment, he tested a weed called Chenopodium album, which grew six to eight feet on an organic farm in western Maryland and 10 to 12 feet in the inner harbor of Baltimore (where the CO2 in its local atmosphere is above the current global average). While this can be troublesome for crops that can’t grow at the same rate, especially under the same conditions, Ziska suggests that the excessive amounts of weeds could be a possible source for biofuels. Read the full article here.

I can’t believe how lazy kids are these days! I work part-time as a swim instructor during the summer, and this summer’s new pool fad seems to be the motorized submersible cruiser, which can be found at your local Target. It’s similar to the technology that scuba divers use; however, it’s made for little kids. This motorized swim toy, when turned on, can glide anyone 100 pounds or less through the water without any effort or, might I add, exercise. As if kicking was ever that hard for the rest of us.

The craziest thing about this toy is that parents are actually buying it for their kids going against any reports that discuss childhood obesity or ADHD in children. While it helps children get away from the T.V., this toy is just another excuse for kids to not have to do anything. You might as well just add wheels to your couch and go for a ride around the block.

Kids need to start learning more about nature and a little less about mechanical devices. The No Child Left Inside Coalition is working to advocate education for children about the natural world because with all the Nintendo Wiis, Facebook profiles, I-Pod videos and now motorized submersible cruisers, kids just don’t understand what they’re missing.

According to a study published by the American Journal of Public Health, nature reduces symptoms for children with ADHD. It is proven to give children superior attention and to improve their effectiveness. So, instead of hooking your child up to the next motorized toy, think about helping them become more in tune with nature with some suggestions from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:

• Take a walk in the woods
• Lie on your back in your backyard and watch the clouds roll by
• Turn over rocks in a stream and look for critters
• Catch lightning bugs
• Climb a tree
• Fish at a local pond
• Draw a picture of a tree and all the animals that live in it
• Have a picnic at a local park

One thing that I used to do with my dad when I was little is skip rocks at a nearby creek. It’s fun and doesn’t require a battery.

During a conversation about all the cool, exciting things going on in our country right now, a friend told me about this amazing video. It makes me want to cry, yell and dance all within 20 minutes. In The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard provides a simple, well-researched explanation of why our materials economy is problematic: a linear system of producing and consuming stuff on a finite planet wastes resources and communities. What began as a post-World War II strategy of boosting the economy has haphazardly evolved into a destructive monster. For example, so many chemicals go in and out of our stuff that even human breast milk contains toxic contaminants. Because identity and value are now determined by how we contribute to the process of consumption, people are stuck either running on the exploitive work-watch-spend treadmill or powering it.

Yes, it’s depressing. But the fascinating part is that there is another way! Because this is a man-made system, we have the power to change it with a new school of thinking based on sustainability.

The production of the computer you’re using right now affected somebody somewhere. For a new view of your stuff, please watch The Story of Stuff.

If you can’t spare 20 minutes, you can get started with these convenient clips divided by chapter.

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Extraction

Chapter Three: Production

Chapter Four: Distribution

Chapter Five: Consumption

Chapter Six: Disposal

Chapter Seven: Another Way

As Congress is scrambling for a quick solution to America’s oily crisis, the Alaska Wilderness League is working to expose misconceptions about the benefits and environmental effects of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain region. Here are a handful of points the group released last month.

• Leasing and development of the region would result in production of approximately 2.6 billion barrels of oil between 2018 and 2030, with production peaking in 2027 at approximately 780,000 barrels per day.
  
• Production would not lower gas prices immediately. Even if Congress authorized leasing tomorrow, first production would not occur for 10 years.
  
• At peak, the gas pump reduction would be less than $0.04 per gallon, based on a $0.78 per barrel reduction in the price of crude oil (in 2008 dollars).
  
• In recent years, reductions in petroleum consumption have led to reductions in projected future imports that dwarf the production potential of the Arctic Refuge.
  
• When national trends are extended out to the year 2050, the U.S. is on track to achieve a reduction in imports of more than 100 billion barrels of oil through conservation and alternative technologies.
  
• By 2050, potential production from the region is estimated to be less than 10 billion barrels of oil.
  
• The oil industry on Alaska's North Slope annually emits more than twice the amount of nitrous oxide emitted by Washington, D.C.
  
• The oil field industrial sprawl on the North Slope spreads across an area of more than 1,000 square miles.
  
• The Prudhoe Bay oil fields and Trans-Alaska Pipeline have caused an average of 504 spills annually on the North Slope since 1996.

For the full reports, see The Myth of Environmentally Sensitive Oil Exploration in Alaska and Existing Conservation and Alternative Technology Gains Far Outweigh Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Potential: Oil Imports Have Declined Significantly Since 2005.

Also, see Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by the Energy Information Administration.

This Fourth of July weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing the newest film from Disney Pixar, WALL-E. Going into the movie theatre not knowing the plot of the movie, I was surprised to discover that one of  its primary topics is the amount of stuff we all accumulate and how most of it ends up in landfills.

Of course, being a film from Disney Pixar, which has released overnight classics such as Finding Nemo, Cars and Toy Story, the issue is approached with light, family-fun humor.

Beginning hundreds of years into the future, the story follows WALL-E (which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), a lovable robot trash-compactor programmed to pick up our trash, crush it into small squares and neatly stack them into mini-mountains of garbage. At this point in the future, humans have created enough trash for WALL-E to construct skyscrapers tall enough to fill out the New York City skyline. The Earth is no longer inhabited by people (they now live on a space station far from home), and is a place without plant growth — save for one small, lone sprout — or any apparent food or water supply. Instead, it's essentially a giant landfill featuring a ruddy, smog-clouded sky and roaring dust storms.

With only a cockroach (of course) for company, WALL-E quickly falls in love when a new scouting robot, EVE (pronounced by WALL-E as “EE-VAH”), arrives via spaceship seeking plant matter — evidence that Earth has recovered enough to support life, including humans, once again. Yet, as in any good romance EVE is not easily won, and WALL-E's affection for her takes him to the spacestation, where the story continues a deft and witty imagining of the potential repercussions of modern culture.

Although a film meant for children, WALL-E hits hard in imagining what will happen to our planet if we continue to dump trash that can be recycled, reused or even avoided in the first place. Currently, Americans alone generate over 250 million tons of trash per year (before recycling). With this kind of statistic, it's a wonder our planet doesn’t already resemble the literal wasteland that the movie depicts.

Want to see WALL-E in action? Check out the trailer below. You can find more information about landfills in the United States at HowStuffWorks. Let us know what you think — about the movie or about how we create and deal with trash — in the comments section below.

Each day I have to use an interstate highway to get to and from work. I use this time to think and relax a bit, but my thoughts are too frequently interrupted by the sight of road kill. And even if I just see it out of the corner of my eye, I get a little sick to my stomach. 

In the United States alone, there are at least 3.9 million miles of public roads, causing problems for those animals whose habitats are divided. Most animals need to be able to move between different patches of land to acquire everything they need to survive. When highways divide these patches, they make it so that animals have to cross roads to meet their physical needs, resulting in about 1.5 million animals that become road kill each year.

This problem doesn’t just affect the population of animals, either — it hurts people, as well. Animal-vehicle wrecks cause about 200 human fatalities and 29,000 injuries a year. Luckily, the Federal Highway Administration has introduced different kinds of wildlife crossings as a solution to the fight between wildlife and urban developers. Bridges, tunnels and barriers allow animals to go over, under and around highways, reducing the fatality rate and the number of injuries to both wildlife and humans. 

Defenders of Wildlife is a strong advocate for the promotion of wildlife crossings. Its goal is to encourage the idea of combining wildlife conservation with future transportation planning in order to reduce the effects that current roads and highways have on animals. Planning for road construction and improvements, however, is done at the state level by the Department of Transportation (DOT). In order to make any future changes to aid nearby wildlife, the DOT in that state needs to be contacted first. 

In Washington state, citizens are already fighting for these types of changes. The state’s citizens and the U.S. Congress have spent about $70 million on protecting the wildlife corridors in the area and plan on keeping up those standards for animal safety. The I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition is currently working with the Washington State Department of Transportation on the expansion of Interstate 90, as long as the design includes bridges and crossings of the highest standards for wildlife. 

So, while road kill may seem inevitable to some, know that you can talk to your Department of Transportation or join a coalition to support a safer, less disturbing travel experience. 

My mother is brilliant. We were comparing recent frustrating experiences with doctors one evening when Mom, a 4^th grade teacher, had an idea: The United States should do away with our current healthcare system and replace it with one similar to No Child Left Behind (called No Patient Left Behind), in which physicians are held personally accountable for the continued well-being of their patients. 

Think about it: the industry’s focus would immediately be yanked away from the myriad pharmaceuticals (and their accompanying unethical incentives), and redirected to the task at hand, which is finding the most effective solution to whatever is ailing the patient. Doctors would reduce their list of patients to a number that allows them to give each the time and attention their condition warrants. 

Was she serious? Of course not, and she dismissed my insistent requests that she put the idea into words and send it to newspapers and magazines. Neither of us would suggest that if a patient is diagnosed with cancer and ultimately loses the battle, his or her oncologist should receive a pink slip (even if that is how we treat our teachers when a student can’t or won’t obtain a passing grade). We’re just saying that a doctor should be able to show that every effort was made to heal their patients, and no stone was left unturned in the process. 

“That’s all fine and dandy,” you say, “until it occurs to you that there are way too many sick people and not enough doctors to provide that kind of care.” I agree, though I’d like to point out that a similar scenario has existed in our schools for some time now. Too many children require extra time and attention to achieve the goals mandated, and not enough educators exist to provide it. 

Where are we going to find the money to do this? Where do the uninsured fit in this scenario? Those are tough questions. When educators asked how to fund No Child Left Behind without additional federal assistance, they were essentially told to figure it out for themselves. You see, we don’t actually need to have a plan in place to revamp healthcare, we just have to do it. 

No, my mother’s offhand (and mildly sarcastic) idea is not perfect. But neither are the solutions that were proposed during the primaries. Our broken healthcare system has been and will be a hot topic in the next few months as we near the presidential election, and I’d like to see some real brainstorming. Get creative. Suggest another outrageous overhaul. Get people to think. 

As wise as she is brilliant, my mother admitted that such a revolution could never occur. While our politicians clamor to keep their wealthy healthcare industry campaign contributors happy, no such concern exists for teachers. 

Too many people wait too long to be seen, then are rushed through an appointment during which whatever popular new (expensive, poorly tested) drug has just been introduced is tossed at them. Natural treatments are not only ignored, the mere topic of herbal or holistic medicine often is met with annoyance or even hostility (see “Converting the Herbal Skeptics,” by Herb Companion Editor in Chief K.C. Compton). Self diagnosis is vehemently discouraged (for good reason), yet many people receive so little guidance that they have no choice but to sit down and browse the Web for possible clues about their symptoms. 

I really hope my doctor doesn’t see this post. I realize that many of them probably feel pretty helpless as well. Overworked, overstressed, always aware of the malpractice suit just waiting to happen. I don’t think anyone would consider that an enjoyable way to earn a living. It’s unfortunate that so many doctors go through year after year of expensive education and training to devote themselves to the care of others, only to find themselves in this no-win situation. (Sound familiar, teachers?) It’s true that frustrations are occurring on both sides. In what direction do our physicians think the system is heading? 

Have any of you found yourselves in frustrating medical situations? Are you a doctor with something to add? Most importantly, do you have ideas on how to remedy this situation? Please feel free to add them in the comments section below. (I’d also like to hear from our Canadian readers: What are the benefits and drawbacks of your universal healthcare system?)