In the News

President Barack Obama has issued a blueprint to overhaul American education. This new version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) recommends guidelines that reward top schools, support teachers, and encourage underperforming schools to shape up.

Nearly 40 years after the first Earth Day, this is irony: The United States has reduced the manmade pollutants that left its waterways dead, discolored and occasionally flammable.

But now, it has managed to smother the same waters with the most natural stuff in the world.

Organizers and sponsors have taken many green initiatives in the creation of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

Students with an interest in nature can attend environmentally themed classes from kindergarten through graduation in the Lafayette Parish School System’s environmental science academies.

The system has three schools of choice which focus on the environment, with environmental science academies at L. Leo Judice Elementary, Lafayette Middle and Northside High.

E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the U.S. In 2007, Americans got rid of 27 million TVs, 205 million computer products and more than 100 million cellphones and PDAs, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Just 16% of that was recycled.

"America’s Hottest Species," a report produced by the Endangered Species Coalition, provides information on 10 of the top endangered wildlife, fish and plants experiencing the impacts of climate change.

The newly developed CityCenter community in Las Vegas, Nev. recently added a piece of environmental art to its fine art collection. The 87-foot long, 3,700 pound sculpture hangs horizontally from steel cables above a registration desk. The sculpture depicts the Colorado River, complete with its meanders and swells at Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The sculpture was also made with environmentally conscious materials, being cast in reclaimed silver. It is aptly named "Silver River."

This summer, Maryland tried to address a growing problem in the Chesapeake Bay: there are too few blue crabs and too many licensed watermen. Efforts were directed to a particular set of watermen, the 3,676 individuals holding "limited crab catcher" licenses. A little more than half of the watermen in Maryland hold this kind of license.

Glowing clouds were spotted recently across the night skies of the United States. The striking display is the result of noctilucent or "night shining" clouds 50 miles above the earth’s surface at the boundary between the earth’s atmosphere and space.

For the past 3 years, California has been struggling to find a solution to their shrinking water supply. With the population in California growing, the state must quickly find solutions. In February, Governor Schwarzenegger announced that there must be a 20% reduction on per capita use of water; something simple to strive to, but challenging to implement.