Harvard rethinks the food pyramid

White coat notes
Excerpts from the Globe's blog on the Boston-area medical community.

Remember when the government revised its food pyramid three years ago, only to confuse Americans with its 12 versions and staircase on the side? The people at the Harvard School of Public Health certainly do. They have created a guide to good nutrition that uses the familiar pyramid shape but incorporates current research findings in a more straightforward way.

"We would really like to see nutrition applied in daily life," Lilian Cheung, director of health promotion and communication in the nutrition department, said in an interview. "We want to demystify the whole subject."

The new model, called the Healthy Eating Pyramid, is searchable, downloadable, and free. It's part of a relaunched site The Nutrition Source that breaks down diet components, with links to research, and shares recipes from well-known chefs Mollie Katzen, Nina Simonds, and Ming Tsai.

ELIZABETH COONEY

Green blog
Excerpts from the Globe's environmental blog.

The fourth-grade class at Watertown's Atrium School has saved a few hundred trees and counting.

Studying global warming this year, the students - who dubbed themselves the "Green 13" - began examining how they and the school could best reduce their carbon footprint. They found their answer in paper. The school used reams of it and the class learned that vast amounts of energy went into its production. So they decided to save a few million trees by a pretty creative method they found on the Web: narrowing margins. Fitting more words per line on word-processing documents will result in less need for printer paper. Guided by teacher Norah Dooley, the class calculated that if everyone in the US United States narrowed their margins, it could save 6,156,000 trees a year. "I think people just don't know how to do it . . . but it's easy' " said Isabel Daley, 9, one of the Green 13, which has so far made its case to the mayor of Cambridge, various state legislators, and Governor Deval Patrick.

At most schools, what children learn about the environment is often only based on the passion and commitment of a teacher who will trudge them through muddy spring woods to find vernal pools or lead an energy audit for the classroom. But today's children will likely be faced with ever more serious environmental problems - and need to learn how to find solutions as they become adults. That's why Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and the Environment Ian Bowles recognized 23 Bay State schools and two non-profits last week for going the extra mile to teach students about energy and the environment. The $100 to $500 awards are intended to fund further environmental education initiatives at the schools.

"These schools and teachers are going above and beyond curriculum requirements, acting locally to make a difference in protecting our planet while fostering the next generation of environmental stewards,' Bowles said. BETH DALEY