When your kids go back to school this fall, send their teachers some ideas for environmental classroom activities. You're welcome to pass on the list below.

Taking Action: An Educator's Guide to Involving Students
This teacher's guide helps educators plan, implement, and evaluate environmental education projects from organizing community recycling programs to creating community tree nurseries. The guide includes examples of more than two dozen successful action projects and a step-by-step planning process. Contact World Wildlife Fund at (410) 516-6951.

Environmental Education Kit
Full of tips for kids, and a 45-page index of current environmental education materials available to teachers, this teacher's tool is available from Friends of the Earth. Call (800) 537-9359.

Animal Tracks
This compendium helps elementary and middle school teachers incorporate environmental topics into their curriculum. For information on the books and posters that it includes, contact National Wildlife Federation at (800) 588-1650

Community Sustainability: A Mini-Curriculum for Grades 9-12
This 68-page booklet provides information about sustainability and focuses on environmental action skills students can put to good use in their communities. Available from the Izaak Walton League of America at (301) 548-0150.

A Kid's Guide to How to Save the Planet
This paperback book, full of tips and easy-to-understand information, is appropriate for kids ages 8 and up. Contact Environmental Defense Fund, 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20009.

Autumn conjures up many images - and sounds, too, as homeowners tackle the big job of raking leaves, clearing gardens, and cleaning up other yard debris. These are tasks that can make neighborhoods noisy and a bit more polluted if they're done with loud, motorized power tools that burn gasoline or other fossil fuels. Many citizens are opting for quieter, cleaner alternatives like those listed below:

Use a rake instead of a leaf blower. If you need a power tool for a hard to reach spot (like your roof, or in between shrubbery), try an electric leaf blower, rather than a gasoline-powered one. Electric leaf blowers are usually quieter and more energy-efficient than their high-powered counterparts.

Hire neighborhood kids to help. If the idea of doing the raking doesn't appeal to you (or you don't have time), hire a couple of high school kids to help out. They'll be affordable as well as ecological.

Choose hand-powered hedge trimmers. As an alternative to more energy-intensive trimmers, you can also try electric trimmers.

Consider a hand-powered lawn mower. Many yards are so small that a hand-powered lawn mower does the job just fine. You'll replace the roar of a power mower with the quiet whir of the low-tech model; even an electric mower is quieter than one requiring gasoline.

Compost as much as possible. Leaves, twigs, and other yard debris can be quietly composted in a corner space of your yard. In the spring, the compost will be ready to nourish other parts of your garden.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency operates several hotlines, many of them toll-free, to help citizens answer questions they have about environmental issues or to get more information on specific environmental topics. Here are just a few:
Indoor Air Quality: (800) 438-4318
National Lead Information Center: (800) 532-3394
National Pesticide Telecommunications Network: (800) 858-7378
Pollution Prevention Clearinghouse: (202) 260-1023
Radon: (800) 767-7236
Safe Drinking Water: (800) 426-4791
Superfund: (800) 429-9496
Wetlands Information: (800) 832-7828

One way to find out is by watching the new half-hour public service program Earth Share has produced in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency and The Advertising Council. This entertaining mix of practical information and "news you can use" tells viewers how they can save money on their energy bills, fight air pollution, and lower their impact on global warming by using energy efficiently at home. The program is being aired from now until early 1999 by local television stations all over the United States. Check your television guide for broadcast dates, or contact your local television station directly to urge them to broadcast the show.

• Insulate windows, doors, attics and crawl spaces against drafts.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact flourescents.
• Choose energy-efficient refrigerators, dishwashers, computers, and other appliances.
• Adjust air conditioning and heating thermostats to use less energy when you're sleeping or not at home.
• Wash clothes in cool -- not hot -- water.
  

Fuels like coal and oil contribute to acid rain, smog, and global warming when they're burned. The most promising energy alternatives are those that are renewable; generate few or no pollutants; create no dangerous wastes; and do not impact human health. These include:

Solar energy: The sun is our most abundant source of energy. It is free, infinitely renewable, and generates no harmful wastes. Solar energy can be "trapped" via solar collectors and used to heat homes, offices, schools, and other buildings.

Wind energy: People have been using windmills for centuries to generate power. Now, several utilities are instituting programs to capture wind energy and convert it to electricity for home and business uses.

Biomass energy: Biomass includes wood and other organic materials that if burned efficiently, could be considered another source of energy. In some communities, biomass is already a key source of heating fuel.

Energy efficiency: Of course, when it comes to saving energy wisely, using it efficiently makes the most sense of all. Cost-effective energy conservation practices and appliances are now available to every citizen, business, government, and entrepreneur.

Though plush carpeting can be luxurious to your toes, it can be hard on your sinuses. Newly installed carpets made from synthetic fibers can emit "volatile organic compounds" (VOCs), chemically unstable airborne compounds that can produce headaches, fatigue, nausea, and nasal congestion. If you think you may be sensitive to VOCs, take the following precautions when buying and installing a new carpet.

Go natural. Cotton and wool rugs and carpets generally do not produce VOCs.

Give it some air. When you buy new carpet, ask that it be ventilated for at least 72 hours before it is delivered to your residence. Keep windows open for several hours after the carpet has been installed; use a fan to provide additional ventilation to the newly carpeted room.

Use the "hook and loop" installation method. Installation adhesives can be a bigger source of VOCs than the carpet fibers themselves. Alternatives include physical fastening strips known as "hook and loop" strips, or dry adhesives like peel-and-stick strips.

For more tips or to find out how your workplace can help the earth, visit the "Get Involved" section of our website, or call (800) 875-3863.