Oil companies are consolidating and reaping record profits. And that's not a good thing, for democracy or for planet earth.

Antonia Juhasz' previous book was The Bu$h Agneda:  Invading the World, One Economy at a Time.

It's not the cost of oil at the derrick that has been driving up the price of gasoline at the pump, says researcher, analyst and writer Antonia Juhasz. A far more influential factor is the speculative trading of oil price futures, which happens outside the view or regulatory control of this or any other government.

While most big oil companies have recently begun to portray themselves as newly sensitive to the environment and open to alternative energy, Juhasz isn't buying it.

They call it "the pedagogy of place"--  using the natural environment as a learning tool for kids. And it may be the best available antidote to passive, media-dominated childhoods that can result in obesity, diabetes, and other health problems.

Rocky Rohwedder (left),  a professor of Enviromental Studies and Planning at SSU, believes that kids in today's industrialized societies  are not spending enough time outdoors  and are missing out on what nature has to teach them.

The term "nature deficit disorder " was coined and popularized by writer by Richard Louv in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods. You can hear him interviewed about it on NPR's Morning Edition here.

Louv is also the co-founder and chairman of the Children & Nature Network, which was created to encourage and support the people and organizations working to reconnect children with nature.

With rainfall again filling our area's creeks and rivers, it is possible to conduct precise measurements of the changes in water quality in those streams.

Dutch Bill Creek is relatively short, beginning in the hills above Occidental, and flowing northerly downslope through Camp Meeker and on to the Russian River. This is the waterway that was dammed to create the old Camp Meeker swimming area many years ago. Here's a map of the entire Dutch Bill Creek watershed.

 The close up map below shows the locations where the Community Clean WaterInstitute has set up water sample collection points along Dutch Bill Creek (DBC).  DBC 005 is closest to the creek's outfall into the Russian River, while DBC 060 is near the stream's beginning.

The water quality testing conducted in Dutch Bill Creek is done primarily by local volunteers, with training ad assistance from CCWI staff. Find out more about volunteering here.

Many of the most creative answers to climate change are being developed at the local level, and are up for discussion at a low-key conference in Sonoma County this weekend.

Dan Kammen is professor in the Energy and Renewable Resources Group of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at U.C. Berkeley He was identified as one of the Bay Area's Green Leaders by the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week.