Reconnecting children with nature took a step forward recently, when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, gathering for a world  congress in Barcelona, passed a resolution acknowledging the importance of connecting children and nature.

The commission noted it was a priority “to assure responsible stewardship of the environment for generations to come.”

Cheryl Charles, president and CEO of the Children & Nature Network, was there. She moderated a panel discussion titled “Reversing a Worldwide Trend: Strategies for Solving Nature-Deficit Disorder.”It’s not just happening here in the U.S., land of nonstop TVs blaring and a pervasive passion for video games. Her panel included participants from India, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Hungary.

(The network website has a great video, made by a British soap company, in which a robot becomes a boy when it ventures outdoors.)

Local researcher Patricia Zaradic has been studying children and nature for several years.

You can look at some of her research at www.videophilia.org. She and associate Oliver Pergams coined the term, which basically means: doing stuff indoors in front of a screen - watching TV, sitting at computers, playing Xbox - instead of taking a hike.

Their latest research: In the last two decades, park visits, permits for camping or fishing, and other data show a fundamental, pervasive shift away from outdoor activities. Overall, participation in outdoor activities has declined 18 percent to 25 percent.

The authors say the trend has impact well beyond the nation's expanding waistline: It could blunt conservation efforts and other activities that depend on an appreciation of Mother Nature.

I wrote about their work last February. “It's striking and significant," Zaradic told me as she paused along a woodsy Haverford trail she often walks with her husband and three children. "There's this whole other body of research that indicates it's time spent in nature, especially as a child, that leads to environmental sensitivity as an adult," said Zaradic.
And not just experiences at Yellowstone. Even the small realm of bugs and earthworms and fallen leaves in the American backyard has import, Zaradic said. It's something "you just can't get from a flat screen, no matter how high-D it is. "

Last week, my car's mileage dropped suddenly. I was on vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and I thought maybe it had something to do with the high winds we were experiencing.  Or perhaps that we were tempting fate by driving on sandy beach-access roads.

But still, a drop of nearly 20 percent?! The miles per gallon went from the mid-50s on my Prius to 42 and 43. Yikes!

Today, I found out why, and it lends credence to the oft-cited tactic that keeping your tires properly inflated will increase your gas mileage.  I checked the tires, and instead of being at 33 and 35 psi, they were down near 27.  Once they were back up to pressure, my mileage on the way to work spiked to 59.

The only thing I can figure is that it was the sudden onset of cold weather, and perhaps a bit of the long drive mixed in. Either way, I certianly plan to be more attentive in the future.  

Turkey vultures are common in the skies over our region.

But little is known about their movements and migration because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prohibits leg banding on this species, note researchers at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, located along a raptor migratory route north of Reading.

So Hawk Mountain scientists have “wing-tagged” some of the birds with large, brightly-colored and numbered tags that do not harm the birds and are easy to spot. Now, they’re hoping citizen scientists in the area will keep a sharp eye out for any tagged turkey vultures and report the findings.

Hawk Mountain officials expect that some of the birds will stay in southeastern Pennsylvania. An earlier study using satellite telemetry devices showed that Pennsylvania vultures migrated to central Florida.

Those who see a wing-tagged vulture are asked to contact Hawk Mountain and report the day, time of sighting, location, and if possible, the number on the tag and the tag’s color. Calls should be directed to Dr. Keith Bildstein at 570-943-3411 x108 or via email at bildstein@hawkmtn.org. In addition to helping with the project, those who report a sighting also will receive a report of findings.

In the spring of 2003, scientists began another,more high-tech effort to follow turkey vultures. By now, they have placed tiny satellite tags on 21 birds.  Five of the birds also had data loggers surgically implanted in their body cavities to record core body temperature and heart rate.

To follow the tagged birds online, click here.

In my last GreenSpace column, I crowed about how easy it had been to both get and pay my household bills online.

I’d been doing it for months, and it seemed so easy! Just go into my bank’s bill-paying system, make a few clicks, type in the amount, indicate the date I wanted the bill paid and, as much as one can, just forget about it.

That was before I got an unusual phone bill this month.

So here’s an update:

The bill looked high. I clicked on the “view bill” tab.

Turns out that for my security — and how could anyone argue with that? — Verizon wanted me to register and log in, beyond what I’d already done to set up a Verizon account and email.

Fine. I put in my user name and the system said I’d get a phone call in two minutes with a temporary PIN so I could view the bill.

Not fine. Two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes went by.

Then I started calling. Fully ninety minutes after that — after a saga of button-pressing and, when I’d chance upon a human, and okay I understand you’re not the right person, then my abject begging to please, PLEASE transfer me not to an automated line, but a human who could help — we finally got things worked out.

I was able to see the bill. And, fortunately, turns out it was correct. I'd forgotten, ahem, about that 13-minute call to a friend in Denmark.

So that’s one hitch hammered out. And I still like the system. But I wonder what the next one will be.

LED lights for holiday decorations are quite an energy-saver.

According to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, decorative LED (light emitting diode) string lights are widely available in white and a range of vibrant colors including multi-color sets.  They cost more upfront, but use less than $1 to operate over the holiday season, compared to $5 for mini incandescent string lights and up to $75 for large string lights.

Check out their fact sheet here.  

This weekend, you can get a little help offsetting that upfront cost. On Saturday and Sunday, Home Depot is offering a holiday light exchange program. Customers can bring in their old holiday light strings -- working or non-working -- to be recycled. For each string, up to five, customers will receive a $3 coupon toward the purchase of energy efficient seasonal light-emitting diodes (LED) string lights. Customers must purchase their new LED lights that weekend. In some cases, the coupon might mean as much as a 50 percent discount.

In this morning’s column, I wrote about how paying bills online can save paper. Which, of course, saves trees and the energy used to make and transport paper.

Not to mention 42 cents for a postage stamp.

It prompted a lot of debate, and I want to share some of the responses I got:

* “Doesn't often work. I had accepted paperless billing with a large bank, covering costs of your paper delivery. No notice given for a couple of months, then a bill, late charges and penalty, of over $100. No explanation would settle. They said, “We do not give refunds.” I contacted Comptroller of the Currency, who went to the bank and eventually, I was given the refund in full. Seems the e-mail billing with AOL did not go through - the reason I did not get the billings.”

* “Another way to TRY to save paper if you have the money on hand is to pay annually. I did this with Comcast with my rental unit’s TV service, but no matter how hard I tried and who I talked to they will not stop sending monthly bills with zero balance! They say their computers are not set up that way. Maybe you can get them more Green.”

* “I have been reluctant to do it for several reasons. First, if my computer is down or I am unable to get my email for some reason, I will not be aware that a bill is due and I will not be pay it which could lead to problems. Also I have several friends who, for whatever reason, wanted to return from online transactions to paper bills and were unable to arrange it causing serious confusion, missed payments etc. Also, in terms of saving paper, most folks who need copies of the bills later for tax reasons will have to print the bills out on their own paper thereby paying for paper that previously was paid for by the phone or electric company etc.”

And finally, this from a woman who signed herself Miss Doom and Gloom: “Twenty-five years ago the banks begged us to use their free ATM machines because it was a time and payroll saver. Now that I'm addicted to the machines they’re charging $2 or more per transaction. … I fear that soon we will be billed for going paperless. We think it can't happen, but we'll be powerless when it does. We're on track to being charged for getting an invoice by any means, hard copy or online.”

Yikes! Say it ain’t so!