Web Picks of the Week Picks Archive Current picks ----2006 picks---- ----2005 picks---- ----2004 picks---- ----2003 picks---- December picks November picks October picks September picks August picks July picks June picks May picks April picks March picks February picks January picks ----2002 picks---- ----2001 picks---- Kids' Links By Topic: Clean Air & Energy Global Warming Clean Water & Oceans Wildlife & Fish Parks, Forests & Wildlands Toxic Chemicals & Health Nuclear Weapons & Waste Cities & Green Living U.S. Law & Policy International Issues Nonprofits and Government: Environmental Groups United States Government

• Be, Live, Buy Different -- Make a Difference - Headed to the mall to stock up on school supplies or pick out some new fall clothes? Take a few minutes and visit this website first. A project of the World Wildlife Fund and the Center for a New American Dream, the site was created to inform young people about how everything we buy and use affects biodiversity. Discover the hidden connections between products and the environment, take the Buy-O-Diversity Quiz and visit the Buy Different Action Center to "make some noise."
  
  
• EnviroEducation.com - If you're considering an environmental career and want to learn more about your options, this environmental web directory is a great place to start. It offers hundreds of links that can help you choose a major, find the right program, locate financial aid and even get a job. Also included -- insights from environmental professionals on how they achieved their career goals.
  
  
• Tips for a Waste-Less School Year - This section of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website offers tips on heading back to school without harming the environment. For starters, bring your lunch in reusable containers, keep textbooks covered so they'll last longer and buy recycled products. (If you can't find any recycled notebooks in your area, why not try making your own? Eco Art has instructions for a full-sized notebook with a cereal box cover, and KindaGrape shows how you can make a mini-notebook out of an empty Jell-O box!)
  
  

• Sacred Balance - Every Wednesday in September, PBS is airing a new segment of David Suzuki's four-part series The Sacred Balance. Filmed over two years on five continents, the show focuses on exploring humanity's place in nature, and the companion website includes detailed episode guides that link to related articles and games. If you have a fast connection, watch a few webcasts from Suzuki's travels. On September 18, the site will host a live web chat with the Canadian environmentalist.
  
  
• Recycle Arizona - Want advice on recycling from an enthusiastic talking cactus? Meet Spike, "the cactus that cares," and watch short video clips where he answers questions about recycling, reducing waste and the importance of choosing products with less packaging. He may look a little silly, but this cactus knows his stuff!
  
  
• Orca Live - Dr. Paul Spong has been researching wild orcas in their natural habitat for the past 30 years. Now, he works to bring people closer to nature by transmitting live images and sound from natural settings to web users around the world. At this website, watch orca whales in the wild. If none swim by while you're visiting, enjoy the peaceful scenery or sign up to be notified by email when the orcas appear on camera.
  
  

• National Public Lands Day - Saturday, September 20th, 2003, is National Public Lands Day. This year's focus is on improving wildlife habitats around the United States. At the website, watch a short video to see what it's all about and use the clickable map to find National Public Lands Day events in your area.
  
  
• The Living Edens: The Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Lost World was based on a region of Venezuela with giant plateaus known as "tepuis." You won't find any dinosaurs in the real-life version, but this PBS website invites you to become an "eco explorer" and learn about the area's exotic wildlife and vegetation. The site also offers a downloadable image for your desktop and a list of related resources.
  
  
• Sounds Like Nature - Try your hand as a composer by mixing environmental and animal sounds in this online activity from London's Natural History Museum. Choose a category -- ocean, rainforest or countryside -- and then select your favorite natural noises to create a unique piece of music.
  
  

• ARKive - The U.K.-based Wildscreen Trust created this website with the aim of building an audio-visual record of all 11,000 animals and plants on the World Conservation Union's Red Lists of Threatened Species. Billed as a "Noah's Ark for the Internet era," ARKive's listings currently include descriptions, photographs, sound recordings and video clips for around 600 species. The kids' edition of the site, Planet Arkive, combines wacky wildlife facts with habitat-themed games and activities.
  
  
• NOAA's Aquarius - At this website, visit an underwater laboratory that gives scientists the opportunity to live and work on the seafloor during missions up to 10 days long. Take a quick tour of the lab's interior, read about its current mission -- studying sponges in a coral reef ecosystem -- and check the live web cams to catch a glimpse of the scientists in action.
  
  
• USGS Guide to Federal Environmental Laws and Regulations - Ever wondered what the Clean Air Act or Endangered Species Act actually says? This USGS guide provides brief summaries of the major federal environmental laws, with links to the full text of each law and related resources.
  
  

• e.hormone - You might know PCBs and phthalates are bad for your health, but do you know why? e.hormone, a website run by the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities, will answer all your questions about environmental chemicals. As the site's tagline proclaims, it is "your gateway to the environment and hormones," providing an up-to-date collection of news, events, research and resources relating to endocrine disrupting chemicals, hormones and the environment.
  
  
• Voyage to Kure - In August 2003, Jean-Michel Cousteau lead an expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to film a documentary about the remote island chain. The Ocean Futures Society's website has details about the expedition, including a photo gallery and descriptions of the team's high-tech cameras and diving equipment. Read the daily logs to learn about the team's surprising finds, both positive and negative.
  
  
• Road Rage! - This Why Files feature offers a straighforward explanation of the national forest "roadless rule" and how building roads affects a region's wildlife and habitat. In addition to making wild areas more accessible to mining, logging and oil drilling, roads can interrupt migration patterns, introduce invasive species and block water flow. To learn more about forests and how you can help protect them, visit NRDC's forest pages.
  
  

Looking for links on a specific subject? Find our complete list, organized by topic, on the Reference/Links page.