Dear Simmons,

Last September, millions of you joined us for 24 Hours of Reality, when we connected the dots between the reality of the climate crisis and the extreme weather events happening with greater frequency all over the world. Together, we saw that most of us don’t need to travel far to see the impacts of climate change. We are already feeling those impacts close to home — with bigger downpours of rain (and snow), bigger floods, and simultaneously longer and deeper droughts. Stronger wind storms have also taken a toll.

Yet the climate crisis is also causing momentous changes in remote regions far from major population centers, in places like Antarctica, Greenland, and the North Polar Ice Cap. Consider that Antarctica, the massive continent at the southern tip of our planet that is about the size of the United States and Mexico combined, holds 90% of all the ice in the world. In fact, it is covered in ice that, at some points, is two miles thick. As global warming increases the melting of that ice — and the movement of vast ice sheets from the continent into the ocean — what happens to the rest of the world?

To better understand the changes taking place near the South Pole and the impacts those changes will have around the world, I will be returning to Antarctica this month with The Climate Reality Project. A large number of civic and business leaders, activists and concerned citizens from many countries will join me during this voyage with many of the world’s leading climate scientists and Antarctica experts to see firsthand and in real time how the climate crisis is unfolding in Antarctica.

Learn more about Antarctica and our other expeditions to discover the reality of the climate crisis. Take a look at our Expedition Headquarters now:

http://climaterealityproject.org/thin-ice/

I first traveled to Antarctica in 1988. At the time, it was already clear that our southernmost continent stood at the frontier of the global climate crisis. Scientists expected that as climate change accelerated, Antarctica would be one of the fastest warming areas of the planet. This prediction has proven true: Today, the West Antarctic Peninsula is warming about four times faster than the global average. In many ways, it is the biggest “canary in the coal mine,” signaling one of the largest impacts of climate change for the entire world.

Even though Antarctica is thousands of miles distant from the rest of the world, the melting ice on this continent should be of paramount concern to all of us. As our planet’s ice melts, sea levels are rising steadily. This increases the risk of storm surges, coastal floods, diminished supplies of drinking water for billions of people, salination of agricultural land near low-lying coastal areas, and hundreds of millions of climate refugees — many of whom will cross borders and may carry with them an increased risk of political instability in the nations to which they move.

To better understand these impacts, we are encouraging our partners and supporters to organize their own “expeditions” close to home. Over the next few weeks, members of The Climate Reality Project will document how the melting of the world’s ice is having an impact on people from Brooklyn to Bangladesh and from the Arctic to Ecuador.

I hope you will join me and The Climate Reality Project as we explore how changes on the most remote continent of the world have become a part of our shared climate reality. And I hope you’ll take the time to explore the impacts climate change is having on your own community.

Learn more about how we are all “living on thin ice.” Take a look at our Expedition Headquarters, and check back again in a few days as we begin to report back about what are learning:

http://climaterealityproject.org/thin-ice/

Thanks for all you do,

Al Gore
Founder and Chairman
The Climate Reality Project

The draft National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, available for public review and comment through March 5, 2012, can be found on the web at www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov.

The strategy represents a draft framework for unified action to safeguard fish, wildlife, and plants, as well as the important benefits and services the natural world provides the nation every day, including jobs, food, clean water, clean air, building materials, storm protection, and recreation.

“The impacts of climate change are already here and those who manage our landscapes are already dealing with them,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes. “The reality is that rising sea levels, warmer temperatures, loss of sea ice and changing precipitation patterns – trends scientists have definitively connected to climate change – are already affecting the species we care about, the services we value, and the places we call home. A national strategy will help us prepare and adapt.”

Congress called for a national, government-wide strategy in 2010, directing the President’s Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of the Interior to develop it. CEQ and Interior responded by assembling an unprecedented partnership of federal, state and tribal fish and wildlife conservation agencies to draft the strategy. More than 100 diverse researchers and managers from across the country participated in the drafting for the partnership.

The partnership is co-led by Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, representing state fish and wildlife agencies.

The strategy will guide the nation’s efforts during the next five years to respond to current and future climate change impacts such as changing species distributions and migration patterns, the spread of wildlife diseases and invasive species, the inundation of coastal habitats with rising sea levels, and changes in freshwater availability with shifting precipitation and habitat types. The strategy does not prescribe mandatory activities that agencies must take nor suggest regulatory actions; rather, it provides a roadmap for decision makers and resource managers to use in considering climate change implications to their ongoing wildlife and habitat management activities.

Elements of the draft strategy include:

• Descriptions of current and projected impacts of climate change on the eight major ecosystems of the United States, the fish, wildlife and plant species those ecosystems support and the vital ecosystem services they provide;

• Goals, strategies, and actions to reduce the vulnerability and increase the resilience of fish, wildlife, plants and the communities that depend on them in the face of climate change;

• Collaborative strategies and actions that agriculture, energy, transportation and other sectors can take to promote adaptation of fish, wildlife and plants, and utilize the adaptive benefits of natural resources in their climate adaptation efforts; and

• A framework for coordinated implementation of the strategy among government and non-governmental entities from national to local scales.

“For more than a century, state fish and wildlife agencies have been entrusted by the public to be good stewards of their natural resources. To do that, we constantly are called upon to address threats to our natural resources,” said Patricia Riexinger, Director of the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “Today’s pressures on fish and wildlife and their habitats are exacerbated by climate change and together they emphasize the need for increased conservation and science-based management. The strategy is our nation’s insurance for managing healthy and robust ecosystems in uncertain future conditions.”

“This strategy provides a framework for safeguarding America’s fish, wildlife and plant resources and the valuable services they provide over the long-term,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA is committed to working with federal, state, tribal and local government agencies, non-government organizations and the public in this process because we all have important roles to play in preparing all regions of our nation in a changing climate.”

Leading the development of the strategy is a Steering Committee that includes government representatives from 16 federal agencies, five state fish and wildlife agencies and two inter-tribal commissions. The Steering Committee includes representatives from the California, Washington, Wisconsin, New York and North Carolina fish and wildlife agencies to ensure that all 50 states’ fish and wildlife concerns are considered. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies is providing staff support for developing the strategy.

Public comments can be submitted online through the strategy website via a special link. Written comments may be submitted via the U.S. mail to the Office of the Science Advisor, Attn: National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive Suite 222, Arlington, VA 22203. In addition, there will be five public information sessions in various locations around the country and two webinars to provide details and encourage dialogue on the strategy and its development. To register for these meetings and for more information on the public comment process, visit http://www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov/public-comments.php.

A Pavilion resident shows water contaminated by fracking.

Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens (PACC) today denounced attacks from the oil and gas industry and the state of Wyoming in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency regarding its investigation of contaminated drinking water wells in Pavillion, Wyoming. EPA test results show that hazardous chemicals, commonly used in oil and gas development, contaminated the wells.

Powder River Basin Resource Council and Earthworks’ Oil and Gas Accountability Project applauded PACC for its letter and today launched a national sign on letter campaign urging the EPA to continue with its rigorous investigation and to identify the cause of the contamination.

In December 2011 the EPA released the draft report of its scientific investigation into the connection between oil and gas development and contamination of drinking water wells. After initial testing in August 2010, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) urged residents not to drink their water or use it for cooking. If EPA’s draft is finalized with its current conclusions, it will definitively refute the oil and gas industry’s claim that hydraulic fracturing has never contaminated drinking water wells.

“Pavillion residents made continual requests for help from the state of Wyoming and industry before seeking assistance from EPA to address the contamination issues. For over ten years the state refused to help us. That’s when we went to the EPA. Now it appears the state is joining the industry in fighting this study tooth and nail,” said John Fenton, Powder River Basin Resource Council Board Member and Chair of Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens.

EnCana Oil & Gas USA, which owns and operates over 200 gas wells in the Pavillion area, denies that drilling is to blame for the contamination, stating that many of the toxins “occur naturally.” On January 6, 2012, EnCana sent a letter demanding that the EPA suspend the public comment period on the report claiming that the agency didn’t give the company copies of all the data it used to compile the report. Also last week, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming and Wyoming Water Development Commission accused the EPA of not following its own water-testing protocols by holding several water well samples two days too long before conducting tests.

Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens, Powder River Basin Resource Council, and Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project have long fought to require the regulation of fracking and full and public disclosure of the chemicals used in drilling operations.

“These accusations are a political ploy to cover up the results and bring a halt to the study,” said Gwen Lachelt, director of Earthworks’ OGAP. “We’ve seen this time and again with industry shirking responsibility and the government turning its back on the people who bear the impact of energy development in our country,” Lachelt stated.

“The EPA is conducting a scientifically sound investigation of the contamination in the Pavillion area,” said Wilma Subra, chemist, president of Subra Company, and board member of the State Review of Oil & Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER). “Holding the samples for a longer time did not compromise the results. If anything, longer hold times make the results less likely to indicate contamination,” Subra stated.

“The American public needs to see this for what it is: a planned assault to undermine the Pavillion study and smear the EPA.” said Deb Thomas with Powder River Basin Resource Council, “EnCana did get one thing right.  The state of Wyoming should hold their own testing events to the same standards they’re demanding from EPA.  The state’s test results should publicly release all critical information, including all the Report-related raw data. That would allow all parties and citizens to understand what regulated and non-regulated chemicals are being found in our drinking water and aquifers.  ”

The area under investigation just east of Pavillion is home to about 160 residents in the middle of the Wind River Indian Reservation, 150 miles east of Grand Teton National Park. Residents share their farming operations with over 200 oil and gas wells that surround their homes. Toxic chemicals were found in nearly nine out of every ten wells sampled. In monitor wells drilled by EPA, benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, was found at 50 times the limit safe for human health along with numerous other toxic chemicals including 2-BE, a chemical used in fracking operations. Through the years contamination has been suspected, EnCana supplied and halted drinking water service to residents. In 2011 EnCana tried to sell its entire Pavillion/Muddy Ridge gas field to Legacy Oil & Gas out of Midland, Texas. Legacy backed out of the sale in late November.

For more information:

• PACC letter to the EPA
• EPA announcement of Pavillion draft results
• EPA Pavillion study page:
• PRBRC website
• PACC website
• Earthworks: Community Survey Reveals Health Impacts in Pavillion, WY Gas-field

A mature buffelgrass plant pokes out of rocky terrain (photo courtesy of Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum)

Buffelgrass is like the cockroach of the Sonoran desert. This invasive species, introduced from the African savannah, has gained a foothold in southern Arizona, crowding out native plants and threatening native wildlife populations. Dense buffelgrass stands compete with native plants for precious desert water, crowd out germinating seeds with their deep roots, and spread wildfires through an ecosystem ill-adapted to fire.

But since 2005, a group of dedicated volunteers have been working to eradicate buffelgrass from disturbed public lands. Volunteers from the Arizona Native Plant Society, the Arizona Sierra Club, Tucson Audubon Society, Sonoran Desert Weedwackers, and University of Arizona Soil, Water, and Environment Club have worked to dig up buffelgrass stands and prevent future invasions by planting native species. On December 3, 48 volunteers worked in an area of severely disturbed Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands at the base of the Waterman Mountains in the Ironwood Forest National Monument northwest of Tucson.

In the mid-2000s, this site had one of most severe infestations of buffelgrass in the entire Tucson Basin. Starting in 2005, the Arizona Sierra Club organized volunteers to manually remove buffelgrass on these BLM-managed lands. Since 2008, a core group of Arizona Native Plant Society volunteers has worked to regularly apply herbicide to emerging buffelgrass, plant native trees, and install water catchment areas to encourage desert restoration. Over 66 native plant species and thousands of planted native trees have taken hold across the site. Though invasive buffelgrass on this site is now under control, the soil remains charged with seed, so maintenance is constantly required.

Though hardly a new phenomenon—think Christopher Columbus and smallpox—globalization has opened the gates for the introduction of non-native species into ecosystems throughout the world. Invasive species are estimated to cost about $138 billion in environmental damage and losses each year, and are estimated to affect 1.7 million acres of U.S. wildlife habitat each year. Other examples of invasive non-native species wreaking havoc on ecosystems include yellow starthistle, which now dominates almost 10 million acres of once-productive grazing land in northern California, and, in the animal world, the carrier pigeon, which, having spread through cities across the country, is estimated to cost over $1 billion annually in property damage.

Although many non-native species aren’t invasive and don’t disrupt their new environments, problematic disruptions arise when non-native species, freed from the pressures of co-evolved natural predators, thrive at the cost of native plants and animals. After habitat destruction, invasive species are considered to be the greatest threat to ecosystem biodiversity.

To help with future buffelgrass projects in Arizona, contact volunteer coordinator John Scheuring at jfscheuring@hotmail.com.

According to Rooftops to Rivers, a report released by the National Resources Defense Council this week, an estimated 10 trillion gallons a year of untreated stormwater runs off roofs, roads, parking lots, and other paved surfaces, often through the sewage systems, ultimately ending up in our waterways and rivers. According to the NRDC, “Stormwater runoff from the built environment remains one of the great challenges of modern water pollution control, as this source of contamination is a principal contributor to water quality impairment of water bodies nationwide.” Not only do these polluted stormwater flows get into our drinking supply, they also damage ecosystems, degrade riverbanks and flood fragile habitats.

Breaking up impervious surfaces, like this stormwater catch at street corner in Tucson, Arizona, helps rainwater absorb directly into the ground. Areas like this also help beautify urban communities, providing an area for vegetation to grow and break up the streetscape. (photo by Megan Kimble)

Part of the problem in effective stormwater management is that as cities pave new roads and build new rooftops, the ground itself absorbs less water. From 1982 to 2007, land under development—land covered with roads, rooftops, or parking lots—increased by 56 percent. These surfaces are impervious to water absorption, which increases storm runoff, as well as the risk of floods and water contamination.

It’s the difference between pouring a glass over water on tile or carpet. After a storm, water flows rapidly across these slick surfaces in quick bursts, accumulating debris and pollutants, like fertilizers, bacteria, animal waste, metals, and oils, which end up in local aquifers and degrade overall water quality. Contrastingly, on undeveloped land—land covered with dirt or vegetation—only about 10 percent of a storm’s total rainfall becomes runoff (the rest is absorbed into the ground or evaporated).

But cities across the U.S. are pitching in to stop runoff pollution. The NRDC report details the work of 14 cities that are working to develop green infrastructure, which helps ease runoff by capturing rainwater before it hits the ground running. Developments such as green roofs, street trees, increased green space, rain barrels, rain gardens, and permeable pavement ease runoff pollution by storing rainwater for future use or helping it filter back into the ground.

Green infrastructure projects attempt to make cities more like carpet than tile. Check out individual NRDC case studies to see how each of the 14 cities fared on the “Emerald City Scale.” Philadelphia got a perfect 6, with Milwaukee, New York, Portland, Syracuse, NY, and Washington, D.C. ranking just below it.

While TPC provided support and an event location blog page for any community that wanted to organize an event, it was entirely up to that community to determine what their particular expression would be. It’s a global movement, but it’s local—inclusive yet decentralized—but documentation is crucial. Event founder Michael Rothenberg writes on the 100 Thousand Poets for Change website:

Each local organization determines what it wants to focus on, something broad like, peace, sustainability, justice, equality, or more specific causes like Health Care, or Freedom of Speech, or local environmental or social concerns that need attention in your particular area right now, etc. Organizations will then come up with a mission statement/manifesto that describes who they are and what they think and care about. When the whole event has taken place all the mission statements can be collected from around the world and, I hope, worked together into a grand statement of 100 Thousand Poets for Change.

All documentation from Saturday will be on the 100TPC.org website, and will be archived by Stanford University, in recognition of 100 TPC as the largest poetry reading in history.

Here’s a sample (and, dare I say, my favorite?):

Check out all of the entries and vote for your favorite at:

http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/science_idol/2011-science-idol-contestants.html

Least Tern. Photo by Tom Grey.

(Washington, D.C., April 22, 2011) One year after the start of the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) announced it will launch a five-state, Gulf Coast conservation effort that will identify and implement protective measures for vulnerable beach-nesting birds such as Least Terns, Black Skimmers, Sandwich Terns, and Royal Terns.

The project will bring expertise not only from ABC, but from partners throughout the Gulf region, including the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program; National Audubon, the Pascagoula River Audubon Center (and their Audubon Junior Naturalist and “Chick Shelter” programs), and the Mississippi Coast Audubon Society; and the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory. The project, which is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, will focus on beach-nesting bird habitat in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

“This project will reduce impacts on key beach-nesting bird colonies, many of which are currently vulnerable to accidental disturbance by members of the public, dogs, and ATVs which can cause adult birds to abandon a nest or lead to crushed eggs and injured chicks,” said Mike Parr, Vice President of ABC and one of the leaders of the project. “Nesting birds occupy a tiny portion of the region’s beaches, usually well back from the shoreline, so there won’t be a conflict with beach goers, but the areas they do use are absolutely vital to their breeding success” he added.

“All of us love the beaches of the Gulf – they are economically vital to our coastal communities – thus our project goal is not to restrict public access, but instead we hope to engage the public in helping us with beach bird recovery by sharing this beautiful shoreline during nesting season,” said Cecilia Riley, Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory.

“Audubon is excited to bring our volunteers, Audubon chapters, and over 100 years of experience protecting beach-nesting birds along the Gulf coast to this exciting initiative by ABC”, said Melanie Driscoll, Audubon’s Director of Bird Conservation for the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Flyway.

“Beaches are among the most limited and threatened of all bird habitats in the U.S. They provide only a tiny sliver of nesting opportunity for birds, and are often heavily used by humans, squeezed by development, and frequented by colonies of feral cats. Consequently, birds that require this habitat face considerable survival challenges. Much of their plight is caused by anthropogenic impacts, so it is only fitting that we take steps to fend off some of those challenges and give them a fighting chance,” Parr said.

Habitat to be targeted by the project was directly impacted by the oil spill, both from the oil itself and also as a result of the cleanup effort, which caused damage along much of the Gulf Coast through disturbance and nest destruction by cleanup crews on foot and in vehicles, and through the removal of sand from nesting areas to construct protective berms along the tideline.

Specifically, the project partners, with the help of volunteers, will implement conservation measures such as signage and fencing at critical, unprotected or insufficiently protected colony sites for beach-nesting birds, to reduce accidental nest destruction and abandonment. These direct protection measures will be supported by a public awareness campaign designed to encourage beach-goers to respect and avoid sensitive nesting areas.

Both the Least Tern and the Black Skimmer are on the U.S. WatchList, which identifies birds that need conservation attention to survive a convergence of environmental challenges, including habitat loss, invasive species, and climate change.

American Bird Conservancy (www.abcbirds.org) conserves native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas by safeguarding the rarest species, conserving and restoring habitats, and reducing threats, while building capacity in the bird conservation movement. ABC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership organization that is consistently awarded a high rating by the independent group, Charity Navigator.

Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.

The Center for American Progress released two reports on the one-year anniversary of the BP blowout: “The Gulf One Year Later: Beyond Rhetoric?” by Michael Conathan, which discusses the Congressional response to the economic and environmental catastrophe, and “One Year Later BP Still Not ‘Making It Right’” by Jorge Madrid and Kiley Kroh, outlining the lack of accountability and responsibility on the part of BP to restore the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

In “The Gulf One Year Later: Beyond Rhetoric?,” Michael Conathan discusses the congressional response to the BP spill, which claimed the lives of 11 men and set off an 87-day environmental nightmare. The explosion also triggered an equally ferocious barrage of rhetoric in the nation’s capital. A frantic burst of congressional hearings emerged as the immediate oversight response. As usual, they were full of sound and fury—sadly but not surprisingly—signifying nothing. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that 101 oil-spill-related bills were introduced in the 111th Congress, which came to a close in 2010. Exactly zero were enacted into law. Another 15 have been introduced so far this year—none of which has been acted upon by their committee of jurisdiction. This article explores past efforts and current efforts within the legislature and the administration and why this legislation has not been promulgated a year later.

Members of Congress should work toward passing legislation that would:

• Mandate that 80 percent of BP’s Clean Water Act fines be sent directly to the Gulf Coast to repair environmental and economic damage
• Strengthen provisions ensuring local stakeholders have a voice in prioritizing the use of the funds

For the full article, click here.

“One Year Later BP Still Not ‘Making It Right’” by Jorge Madrid and Kiley Kroh outlines the lack of responsibility and accountability by BP to fully compensate for the damage done to individuals, businesses, and the fragile ecosystem of the Gulf region. Despite the administration’s insistence that BP bear the entire cost of the unprecedented cleanup, it looks like taxpayers will be picking up half the bill. The galling payouts don’t end there, either. Transocean gave its top executives safety bonuses in December 2010 and Ken Feinberg and his firm, Feinberg Rozen, which was hired by BP to manage the claims process, negotiated themselves a raise, now receiving pay of $1.25 million a month. BP has made clear that it will be ending compensation proceedings for individuals and businesses by 2013 and is exploring a loophole in the wording of the Clean Water Act that could dramatically reduce its liability for significant penalties under both the Clean Water Act and NRDA.

To provide proper oversight and strategic spending, the following steps should be taken:

• Establish an independent citizens’ advisory council to ensure the money goes to appropriate projects
• BP and other responsible parties should be required to make an immediate down payment on the NRDA process
• Responsible parties should be prevented from using the court system to further delay payment while legal challenges are pending

For the full article, click here.

To speak with CAP experts on this topic, please contact Christina DiPasquale at 202.481.8181 or cdipasquale@americanprogress.org.

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The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Arthur Celebrates Earth Day with 5 New Episodes Beginning Friday, April 22, 2011 on PBS KIDS GO!

Features a Special Visit from NASA Astronaut Mike Finke, Thursday, April 28, 2011

BOSTON, MA (April 11, 2011) – PBS KIDS GO!’s iconic kids series ARTHUR continues its 14th season with five brand-new episodes highlighting environmental protection, cultural awareness, and teamwork beginning on Earth Day, Friday April 22, 2011, and continuing through Thursday April 28, 2011 (check local listings). The fun starts with a special Earth Day message from Arthur and his friends in Buster Baxter and the Letter from the Sea. In this episode, Buster discovers a message in a bottle on the beach while on vacation with the Read family. Could it be an urgent message from the people of the Lost City of Atlantis? Buster is determined to find out and sends messages back…by throwing his own bottles into the ocean. Join Buster and Arthur as they learn that keeping our beaches and waterways clean is the real message.

Online, kids are invited to take the Go Green Challenge (pbskids.org/arthur/thetreehouse/gogreen) on the ARTHUR website. In this special section, kids can join their favorite ARTHUR characters in support of a green cause. Whether it’s making better food choices with Buster, or saving energy with D.W., kids have opportunities to take simple green steps that can help save the environment. Also, kids will be able to print out a “Challenge Page” to keep track of their green actions.

“This Earth Day, we wanted to show kids how simple actions can affect the environment,” says Senior Executive Producer Carol Greenwald. “Through this episode and the Go Green Challenge, kids can learn simple steps that they can take to help protect the world around them.”

Throughout the week of new episodes, Arthur and friends will follow a soccer ball as it makes its way around the world.  In Follow the Bouncing Ball, airing Friday, April 22, 2011, Alberto Molina’s beloved soccer ball, signed by his favorite Ecuadorian soccer star, “El Boomerang,” is lost. Kids are invited to join Arthur in learning about new cultures and track all the places “El Boomerang” goes as it travels around the world (and into outer space!).

In a special episode airing Thursday, April 28, 2011, kids learn that teamwork can help their dreams soar when NASA Astronaut Mike Finke guest-stars on ARTHUR in Buster Spaces Out. Inspired by footage of the moon landing, Buster wants to go to outer space. Well, someday. For now, it would be really cool to build and launch a rocket.  So Buster enlists his friends to help…but they can’t agree on anything and the mission stalls.  Luckily, their new friend Astronaut Mike teaches them that only teamwork will accomplish this mission–and then it’s blast-off!

Tune in for these adventures and more as your favorite ARTHUR characters travel the globe in Around the World in 11 Minutes, start competing blogs in Muffy and the Big Bad Blog, try their hand at fashion design in All the Rage, cope with teasing in D.W., Queen of the Comeback, explore Africa in In My Africa, and discover knitting in Arthur Unravels. The full schedule of airdates is below (check local listings):

Friday, April 22, 2011 – Follow the Bouncing Ball, Buster Baxter and the Letter from the Sea
Monday, April 25, 2011 – Around the World in 11 Minutes, Muffy and the Big Bad Blog
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 – Arthur Unravels, All the Rage
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 – D.W., Queen of the Comeback, In My Africa
Thursday, April 28, 2011 – Buster Spaces Out, The Long Road Home

ARTHUR Online at PBSKIDSGO.org/arthur
The award-winning ARTHUR website is home to many games and activities, including the new game “Buster Baxter, Lung Defender.” In this game, kids fight common asthma triggers in a wild ride through Buster’s lungs. Supporting material for parents and caregivers can be found in the new Kids & Asthma section on the Parents & Teachers site. Also new this season, Arthur and his friends team up with Martha from Martha Speaks in a new game called “Marthur Stickerbook Mashup.” Kids can choose characters and props from each show to create unique mashup scenes. Finally, in a comic-creator feature inspired by Neil Gaiman, who guest-starred on ARTHUR last fall in Tales of the Grotesquely Grim Bunny, kids can create their very own comics, featuring Arthur and his Elwood City friends. The ARTHUR website is also home to most of the series educational materials including resources, lesson plans, and activities and has features to help kids understand their neighbors, near and far, and gain a better appreciation for the world around them. Kids can also watch video clips and full episodes of ARTHUR at PBSKIDSGO.org/video.

About ARTHUR
ARTHUR, based on Marc Brown’s best-selling books, reaches over 5.1 million people each week (NTI, Sept. 2010-January 2011).  ARTHUR has won numerous awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award, a BAFTA and six Daytime Emmys®– four for Outstanding Children’s Animated Program. ARTHUR is produced by WGBH Boston and Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. Carol Greenwald is Senior Executive producer (WGBH) and Executive producers are Toper Taylor (Cookie Jar), and Marc Brown (Marc Brown Studios). The series is directed by Greg Bailey.

Funding for ARTHUR is provided by public television viewers. Corporate funding is provided by Chuck E. Cheese’s®.

About WGBH Boston
WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcasting producer, the source of one-third of PBS’s prime-time lineup along with some of public television’s best-known lifestyle shows, many public radio favorites, and a roster of children’s programs that empower kids with innovative, entertaining, curriculum-based content. Among the WGBH produced children’s titles: Arthur, Curious George, Postcards from Buster, Between the Lions, Design Squad, Martha Speaks and Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman. WGBH is the number-one producer of websites on pbs.org, one of the most trafficked dot-org websites in the world, and a pioneer in educational multimedia and in technologies and services that make media accessible to the 36 million Americans who rely on captioning or video descriptions. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards . . . even two Oscars. In 2002, WGBH received a special institutional Peabody Award for 50 years of excellence. For more information, go to www.wgbh.org.

About Cookie Jar Group
Cookie Jar Group develops, produces, distributes and markets quality products to children, their caregivers, parents and teachers. Cookie Jar Group’s products reflect its commitment to providing the best in children’s published content, animated and live action programming and innovative educational and entertainment-driven products worldwide. The group of companies consists of Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. and Cookie Jar Education Inc. Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc., Cookie Jar Group’s entertainment operation, is a leading, global, independent producer, marketing and brand manager of such renowned children’s properties as The Doodlebops, Caillou, Arthur, Spider Riders and Johnny Test. Combining globally renowned intellectual properties with an industry-recognized management team, Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. is a market-driven, brand building company that is committed to children first and foremost and is dedicated to the development and production of quality programming that embraces the whole child, with animated and live-action series that entertain, inspire and enlighten children and family audiences worldwide.

About PBS KIDS GO!
PBS KIDS GO! offers early elementary children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, online and community-based programs.  For more information on specific PBS KIDS GO! programs supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit PBS.org/pressroom.