April 11-17th will be National Environmental Education Week (or, EEWeek). With the ongoing debate over global warming and climate change, it may be a good way to help teach kids about our earth and what they can do to help out. As a kid, I remember going to the local nature center on field trips, assemblies where nature conservationists brought animals like skunks or hedgehogs, and even bird trainers came to show off their eagles’ tricks. Middle school biology consisted of going into the ponds and finding tadpoles, and elementary school was the time I saw the caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly.

Though curriculum and lesson plans have a lot of other requirements, it’s important to remind today’s kids of just how precious our environment truly is. Water and energy consumption in developed countries is astronomical, particularly in the U.S. Over 1.1 billion people in the world have inadequate access to clean water, for personal hygiene and consumption. As Americans, we often forget just how fortunate we are to have virtually limitless access, save for the drought periods that sporadically affect communities. Ask your kids, or students, to consider how much water they use. Ask them if they let the shower run for a bit longer or if they turn the faucet off while brushing their teeth. Every little action adds up.

Energy awareness is equally as important. How much time does your child spend on their computer or in their room with the lights on? In terms of personal economics, parents could benefit from encouraging their children to spend more time outside playing than sitting indoors watching T.V. or playing video games. Spend a day outdoors with them and show them just how much they can accomplish. For parents with teenagers, remind them that carpooling is normally more cost efficient and helps reduce carbon emissions. Though one car won’t make a difference, their suggestion may be influential on their friends and the community as a whole. Recycling is still key and should be practiced in the home and classroom. If it takes bribery, tell your kids or students that for every bottle or can they collect, they have an opportunity to earn a little – ok, admittedly, very little - cash on the side.

There are tons of nature and environment centers around the States, even for New Yorkers. Encourage parents to go to the local nature center and spend some time there with their kids. We all have to set an example for the future generations, and EE Week is a great place to start.

For more information and resources on National Environmental Education Week, check out the official website at : http://www.eeweek.org/

So get this:  there’s a species of jellyfish called turritopsis nutricula which is able to cycle backwards from its adult stage back into its first stage of life, and then grow back into an adult, over and over again–effectively making it immortal. Not a new discovery, but I just read about it over on Yahoo! Green and thought it was cool.

There are few things in this world more fascinating, or scary, than carnivorous plants. A new one, nepenthes attenboroughii, has been discovered and named by researchers in the Philippines. It is the second largest “pitcher” plant known to man, a type of plant named because of its hollow shape filled with liquid. Growing up to four feet tall, the plant secretes nectar around its opening which attracts insects, rodents and frogs to fall into the opening, where they are killed and digested by the liquid. Awesome!

To learn more about nephenthes attenboroughii more check out this article at AOL News.

Photo Credit:  Redfern Natural History Productions Ltd./LiveScience.com