Apple will recycle 25 or more of any type of computer or electronic. Great program and environmentally safe.

School districts in sunny areas are beginning to float bonds to install solar power. These projects can have quite a long payback but I do think it is time for us to start looking long term. What happens when the energy cost can be funneled back into education in the long term?

We are interdependent on this planet.This is no surprise that they are finding that the pollution in China and India are affecting the climate elsewhere - like here in the US. When I went to Beijing last year, I came home and my hair started falling out. I wasn’t sure if it was related but I did find the correlation suspicious.

We’ve seen this for years - we would outlaw chemicals that my Dad could use on his US based farm only for grocery stores to start buying produce and crops grown in other countries with that very same chemical used on the crops. This inconsistency not only hurts the US economy but in the long run hurts the world. We need to be responsible stewards of our planet.

June 5 is “World Environment Day” - a day when you encourage and help students take action to promote a sustainable planet. Here are some lesson plans if you don’t know what to do. This is an important topic. With summer coming up in the northern hemisphere - taking time to review recycling guidelines and ways students can help the environment is a great idea.

The idea of a “thinking walk” is a neat one. In this one, students walk and reflectoin how we used plants. They record their thinking walk through photographs or recording audio. Thinking walks would be fascinating things to do at the end of the school year.

I often think while I walk too. This idea of focusing on one aspect of the walk is a great one.

Earth Day is April 22. Here are lesson plans for Earth Day that you can then use to tie into Arbor Day the next week. Environment, sustainability are both important topics that should be discussed in every school.

The students are talking about this - are you? On March 31 - earth hour day is the “largest environmental event in history.” Can you switch off for an hour? Can your students? This is a great thing to do with your students but also to have as a writing prompt. Did you participate? Why or why not? What did you do with your hour? Here are lessonplans to share and use to discuss this. It is Saturday. Prepare now.

But Earth Hour Day (31 March), the largest environmental event in history, reminds us that switching off can be a good thing. Make a stand in 2012 and teach students about climate issues – prepare them to take responsibility for change in the future with this hand-picked selection of lesson plans and activities.

The official Earth Hour Day website http://www.earthhour.org/