WHEN PAUL HAWKEN’S book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming came out in 2017, many hailed it as the “new Green Bible.” I rushed to get a copy. When I held it in my hands, it felt like proof that there really was something we could do to stop global warming.  After all, over 200 experts had found 80 solutions already in use around the world and 20 more in development and had shown how they could reduce greenhouse gas emissions to levels needed to turn back global warming.  Here was hope at last!

AN EXCELLENT MEASURE of how much children are learning is to count the number of times the teacher says “Pay attention.” The fewer “pay attentions” the more learning. In my own experience of 30 years as a science teacher, a 4th-grade teacher, and even as a swim instructor,  I said the fewest “pay attentions” while I worked at an outdoor education center. At the center, nature did the teaching and I was the assistant. Trees, animals, flowers, rocks, and water were all teachers. No words or lessons or websites or videos could have taught as effectively.