It’s time for the weekly Earth news and there’s lots of good stuff to report today. Here are my top choices from this week’s Earth news around the web.

#1 – Connecting Children and Nature
President Obama has proposed $50 million of funding for connecting children and nature. Wow! Personally I think a lot can be done if moms just come and read my blog for free. Of course someone has to help the kids who’s moms are too busy or just don’t think about this as a priority. I give this piece of news a big thumbs up! The National Wildlife Federation has the story.

#2 – Middle School Students Win Siemens Challenge
I always knew that kids are smart. This week 3 middle school students from Iowa won the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge by coming up with the apparently non-obvious idea of removing lead weights from the wheels of city and school district vehicles. How is that for a bit of low-tech ingenuity! You can read more at TreeHugger.

#3 – Increase Fuel Efficiency and Drive up Miles?
Apparently there has been some concern that increased vehicle fuel efficiency might be outweighed by people driving extra miles. I can see why this could be a concern, though I wouldn’t personally drive extra – I try to avoid driving as much as possible. Thankfully a story at The Christian Science Monitor today debunks this myth. We can be reassured

#4 – People by Nature are Universally Optimistic
This one could be either good or bad news. I hope when in comes to caring for the Earth we can be more realistic because being overly optimistic would not be good. But, then again, I’m optimistic about it! Read the story at Science Daily.

#5 – New Green Books for Kids
Chicago children’s author Tim Magner thinks kids are too smart for books which just provide lists of things to do to care for the Earth. The St Louis Examiner has the story and you can read more about the books at Green Sugar Press. My favorite is ‘N is for Nature’ – the illustrations are clever and cute.

More great headlines:

• Use CO2 drop in 2008 – big gas prices were good for us.
• Best beaches – I’ll just have to dream of being there!
• The most energy efficient way to cook – the news is, it’s a ‘wash’.
• Wind and solar powered street lighting – cool and geeky.
• Thin and flexible solar tech.
• Green collar training uptake up.
• 5 homes made of the darndest things – it’s hard to choose a favorite.
• High school students bring back cactus wren.
• Last but not least – square toilet paper to reduce waste.

What do you say?

Related posts:

1. Weekly Earth News 05/19/09
2. Weekly Earth News
3. Weekly Earth News 03/31/09