Groundwater might not sound like the most exciting source for learning. But thanks to new efforts led by Lincoln, Nebraska's Groundwater Foundation, hundreds of kids nationwide are getting interested in the environment and working to protect it. Rob Capriccioso reports.

A new survey finds that many teens know the risks, but still want a tan. Rob Capriccioso interviews Dr. Darrell S. Rigel, M.D., who led the survey effort, on his findings and the implications.

With the EPA's announcement of new rules to limit the amount of mercury pollution from power plants, there's renewed attention to the dangers mercury poses. Children are especially vulnerable. Connect for Kids has pulled together resources on mercury dangers, how to protect kids and families, and how to get involved in the issue.

It's small, soggy, and froggy. Wetlands Estonoa is also the centerpiece of an award-winning environmental preservation and education program in the little mountain town of St. Paul, Virginia. D.J. Mathews reports that it was St. Paul's teens who put Estonoa on the map.

The nation's first large-scale study of the effects of long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution in children found evidence that pollution reduces children's lung growth and function, and increases the incidence and severity of asthma. Kids who move out of high-pollution areas show improved lung function growth rates, indicating that small improvement in air quality can have immediate benefits.

This National Academies' Transportation Research Board report explores the link between the "built" environment—buildings, roads, parks, and other structures that
physically define a community—and physical activity levels.

Pregnant women living in highly polluted areas more likely to deliver low-birthweight infants, according to a study published in the January 2005 issue of Pediatrics. Kaisernetwork.org summarizes the findings.

Has the EPA gone soft on manufacturers of rat poison? Between 2001 and 2003, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported nearly 60,000 cases nationwide of poisonings by rodenticides (with 250 serious outcomes, including death) -- more than for any other pesticide. Many of the victims were children. Children living below the poverty line are especially at risk, largely because there are more rats in these communities, and public housing managers may be careless with their use. The progressive magazine Mother Jones reports that in the late 1990s, the agency required manufacturers to give their poisons a bitter taste and dyes to stain the hands and mouths of kids, alerting their parents that they'd gotten into something unusual. It also presented evidence that could support limiting the sale of some of the chemicals to licensed users. But in 2004, the EPA backed away from these requirements and said that further testing was necessary to determine the poisons' effects.

When two community organizations in Detroit -- one geared towards Latino families on the southwest side of town, and another centered on the needs of African American families on the east side -- took on a joint public health project, the results reached beyond the realm of health. Cecilia Garcia explains.

It's been three years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, but the moment remains with us all ? even more so in this political season. While most kids may be coping well with their changed world, anniversaries can trigger a return to difficult emotions. Connect for Kids has some resources to help.