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A Boston public school, Mission Hill, wraps up a year in piloting a democratic approach to education — and plans not to participate in the nation's new standardized assessment process. The crisis in America and around the world is not an education crisis, says Mission Hill founder Deborah Meier, but a crisis in faith in and respect for democracy, which rests on having respect for the judgement of ordinary people.

Five public, separate and private schools have collaborated on a project to develop a wetland within a stone's throw of all them in Clinton, Ontario. The project is a "beautiful example" of school boards working together with outside resources to turn an area that has lain dormant for years into an educational and recreational space, principal Nick Geleynse says. The project fits perfectly with his school’s intent to create more hands-on learning experiences and also have more learning take place in the community and outdoors, Geleynse adds. More

A third annual summit on a phenomenon called Slow Living takes place in June in Vermont. Slow Living has been described as "a more reflective approach to answering how we live, work and play as human beings on a fragile Earth."

Environmental activist and journalist Bill McKibben challenged fellow journalists at a recent conference to see climate-change reporting as the ultimate test of journalism’s value. "We'll find out whether the journalistic method was a good idea or not . . . whether it serves the early-warning function we need it to serve or not,” said McKibben. He concluded his presentation with the point that finding out ways, without much money, to stand up to large amounts of money, is what the best journalism has been about from the beginning. "It’s figuring out how to take power and status quo and put reality in its face and knock it down a peg or two," he said, adding that the natural outcome of good journalism is to make people care and "go do something about something." More