Green Failure: What's Wrong With Environmental Education? An interview with marine conservationist Charles Saylan, who believes the U.S. educational system is failing to create responsible citizens who consider themselves stewards of the environment.

Environmental Justice and Education Part One: An Introduction. This article is the first in a three part series analyzing the gap between what we ought to teach our children in order to foster responsible, global citizens and what is actually taught in public schools around the country.

Reconnecting Children and Nature. An article that examines what happens when children fail to bond with nature. 

It's the middle of August, and the heat and humidity have chased me to the relative coolness of Centennial Woods, a 147-acre patch of forest owned by the University of Vermont. There's not much stirring in the midday heat. Until, that is, I hear the tapering whistle of an eastern wood peewee ringing out from the canopy above. The sound is striking against the noticeable absence of other birds singing this late in the season...

Download the Article  

Reader Dick Pearson submitted this picture of two tiny fleur de lis'. What are they? And where did they come from?    

Every other week we run a photo of something unusual found in the woods. Guess what it is and you'll be eligible to win a copy of The Outside Story, a paperback collection of our Outside Story newspaper columns. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner's name, will appear in next week's column. 

Note the pronounced sagittal crest (the Mohawk-looking ridge of bone on the top of the head), which indicates that this opossum was a mature animal. As an animal ages, and its jaw and neck muscles grow and develop, the sagittal crest becomes more pronounced.

To learn more about opossums, check out Tracking Tips in the summer issue.