Editor of Life Learning magazine Editor of  Natural Life magazine Author of educational books Small/Home Business writer Poet Speaker Interview on Radio Free School

Welcome to these regular musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings by Wendy Priesnitz.   Archives - March, 2006 Can’t See the Forest for the Schools – March 7, 2006 According to Reuters Daily World Environment News on Planet Ark, U.S. President Bush’s proposed 2007 budget calls for selling off 300,000 acres of public forests to raise money for its education program, especially rural schools. The proposal is actually a five-year extension and ramping down of a law signed in 2000 by Bill Clinton, which was supposed to end this year. The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act created federal funding for schools in rural areas from timber sales and Bureau of Land Management revenues. Reuters quoted a government official as saying that local governments and land trusts would have the right of first refusal in the sales, provided that they pay fair market value, thus helping the lands to remain publicly owned. But critics question whether or not such groups could finance such purchases in any major way and worry. In both Life Learning and Natural Life magazines, we have described the recent research about the “de-naturing” of childhood and what author Richard Louv calls the “nature-deficit disorder” (see articles in Natural Life’s and Life Learning’s May/June 2005 issues and Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods). How sadly ironic and incredibly short-sighted that a government would think of sacrificing such wonderful natural learning environments for school buildings! Posted: 2006/03/07 10:27 AM Return to current weblog Comments? Suggestions? Email Us copyright © Wendy Priesnitz 2007

Topics & Passions: natural learning simplicity environment parenting creativity / writing books ~ What I'm Reading: Staying Alive - Women, Ecology and Development by Vandana Shiva (1989, Zed Books) Goddesses in Older Women - Archetypes  in Women Over Fifty by Jean Shinoda Bolen (2001, Harper Collins) Dropped Threads 2 - More of What We Weren't Told by Carol Shields and Marjorie Anderson, ed (2003, Random House of Canada) ~ What I'm Listening To:  And Still We Sing by Holly Near (Calico Tracks Music, 2002) Corazon Libre by Mercedes Sosa (Deutsche Grammophon, 2005) Wind in the Rhythm Circle by Robbie Hanna Anderman and Friends (Morninglory Music, 2005) ~ Fav Bookmarks: Radio Free School Positive News Parenting Without Punishing Institute for Local Self-Reliance The Guardian John Taylor Gatto Organic Consumers Association Free2be Common Dreams New Scientist News Link ~ Fav Quotes: Art, Writing, Creativity Life and Living Men and Women Learning Environment and Peace