Heartwood USA

Who knew? Not me. A year ago, Mr...

God I love kids. Check out the finalists.

When Heartwood USA gets picked up as a series, we plan to do a lot with electric cars. We’ve already mapped out two episodes: Circuit Break’r Carson and Hugo invent an electric car but before you can say “Plug ‘er in,” Dummkopf Power and Electric goes off-grid...

Vanity Fair discontinued its green issue series. Vogue and Rolling Stone pick up the baton.

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts teams with National Geographic Kids to re-launch its year-round Camp Hyatt program for K3-12 at Hyatt resorts in North America. The new kids program kicks off with the debut of a Camp Hyatt-National Geographic Kids Web site at www.camphyatt.com ...

Great summary by Kate Sheppard in Grist about how dirty energy is outspending the Greens by better than 7-to-1: “…businesses in the energy and natural resources sector as a whole spent $102.7 million…” “…clean-energy businesses spent $14.4 million…” “Environmental groups have...

From season 20, episode 17 “The Good, the Sad and the Drugly.” Lisa Oogles “What Will Springfield Be Like In 50 Years?” for a school project and the results are shocking. Via Huff Po

Via Cynopsis: The MuppetsofPlaza Sesamoand Mexican celebrities are addressing the newflu emergencyin a series of pubic service announcements (PSA) aimed at kids.Sesame Workshopand Mexico’sGrupo Televisahave produced four PSAs featuring the Plaza Sesamo Muppet’s Pancho and Lola as well as...

Got some hate mail today (though due to the vagaries of Google Alerts, it took a while to get to me)...

Beginning Monday, April 20, Sprout’s live morning program The Sunny Side Up Show will celebrate the planet on “Mighty Earth Week” by talking about different ways parents and children ca n care for the Earth, sharing ideas for creative recycling, craft-making and planting, and showcasing...

Via Cynopsis Kids Playhouse Disney celebrates Earth Day with an environmentally themed marathon include two new episodes of Handy Manny, Saturday, April 18, 9-11a. Disney.com will offer a preview of the new recycling episode from Saturday, April 11...

Our house grew hushed this past Friday night at 8pm. Nyssa, Lily, Charlotte and I settled in for the 2009 Kids Choice Awards. Who would win kids tv show of the year? How would Dwayne Johnson do as host? Would the Jonas Brothers sweep...

If PBS Kids going green is to be expected, this one is not: According to Fox, changes to the production of 24 will make it the first carbon neutral television series...

No real surprises here but worth noting: PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go! celebrate Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22, with the fourth annual PBS Kids Share the Earth Day and a new web-based Earth Day Channel on pbskidsgo.org ...

I didn’t make this up: MICKEY MOUSE made a celebrity guest appearance at Heartwood Forest today to announce Walt Disney’s plans to create its own wood within the 850 acre site...

This is pretty cool: Teens can shoot & submit their own stories Red Willow Films is moving forward on Eco Company, its new half-hour environment focused series...

Hi guys, I haven’t been frequently posting lately and won’t be for the next few more weeks. (Is that anywhere close to grammatically correct?) I’m prepping a show bible for Heartwood and it’s taking all my spare time. I’ll update you when I can! Sha

I think the wave is starting. TV is finally catching on to the fact that kids (and their parents) are looking for green programming. Case in point: Hulala Girls Christy Hui, creator of Xiaolin Showdown, has completed a pilot episode for a show targeted at girls six to 12...

Planetpals, a long running Web site with animated eco-heroes, looks like it’s expanding to Japan. According to Cynopsis, Sanrio Far East (Sanrio F.E.), a unit of Sanrio Group, inks a licensing deal to exclusively represent Planetpals in Japan. Under the deal Sanrio F.E...

I reconnected with an old friend (the real reason people join Linked In) and he pointed me to his older brother’s Web site and I found a song that is either a Michael Crichton inspired screed against global warming alarmists or a tongue in cheek reminder to the reality based community not to get...

If you’re free around 730pm eastern today, I’ll be talking about Heartwood USA, kids media and green cartoons on the Journey Home show’s Sustainable Tuesday segment. It streams live on the Web at KSFR.org. Not sure if they archive the show.

Cute cartoon about paying attention to the little things - like shopping bag use:

Spirit of the Forest stars Sean Astin and Giovanni Ribisi as 2 gophers whose home… …is threatened when an evil businesswoman plans to tear down their forest to build a highway. With the help of an old oak tree, the animals and their friends fight back with a vengeance...

Just heard about this cartoon from Keep America Beautiful, Inc - a network of 1000+ affiliates that work on litter prevention, waste reduction and beautification...

I totally forgot about this Simpsons episode till the folks at Grist reminded me: One of the all-time great episodes of The Simpsons is “Marge vs. the Monorail,” written by Conan O’Brien. The EPA fines Mr...

Natalie Angier, science wrtiter for the New York Times, among other titles: No. Mostly it’s a question of trying to quiet the dybbuks — all the voices that tell you you’re no good, you can’t do it, every kind of criticism you can come up with...

I’ve gotten into an interesting discussion about this at Lose the Label, a student activist community. You can check out the thread here.

I liked Wall-E a lot, but I was thrown for a loop when the kids and I walked into the theater and were offered one of these: The merchandising associated with a movie about consumerism seems to have been lost on some...

An interesting contest by an interesting company...

Kids and politics news. Go-Girl, a Canadian live-animation mix, is about a 15 year old girl who unexpectedly becomes mayor when her class project succeeds beyond her wildest imagination...

That’s the question being asked by The Girl Effect, a joint effort by a bunch of organizations, including the Nike and NoVo Foundations and the Population Council...

Indiana Jones is PG-13 fare and currently too scary for my kids (6 and 9) but is definitely in the sweet spot for many. Big Think interviewed Harrison Ford about the films and asked him if he thinks Indiana Jones an environmentalist hero. h/t to Ecorazzi for the find.

Yes, there is video via the Beeb:

This is worth a look: Argentine researchers Guillermo Berra (the National Institute of Agricultural Technology) and Silvia Valtorta (the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations) are researching bovine methane forcings - farts and (mostly) burps. Why...

This is a competition I can get into. Via the Huffington Post.

My copy arrived today after a 2-week back order. The book is lighting up the blogwaves from the left and the right. The book is a great read for adults, but is it appropriate for kids? I mean, what do kids take away from all these grown-up political discussions...

In light of the soon to release X-Files movie: Exxon Files Parent approved but kid friendly? h/t to Kevin Grandia at DeSmogBlog for pointing it out this Friends of the Earth Europe video from 2007.

A study led by Cornell’s Judith Capper finds significant global warming benefits to using a synthetic growth hormone for cows...

I meant to post this on July 4 but the weekend got away from me. A couple of readers of Gasbag (the early version of Cow-a-dunga) expressed curiosity about the Bovine Philharmonic, the orchestra described in the climax of the script...