Since the final batch of XO laptops were delivered on October 13, it is now official: Every last pupil in Uruguay’s primary school system now has a portable green and white laptop and a growing love for the free operating system, Linux.

When the teachers were asked if they were having any problems with the laptops one replied, “we can’t get the kids to leave the school. They hang around here all day long. Is there anything you can do to get them to go home?”

Over the last two years 362,000 Uruguayan pupils and 18,000 teachers became part of the One Laptop Per Child project, an organization set up by internet pioneer Nicholas Negroponte with his vision of providing $100 laptops.

2014 UPDATE: A study this year shows no increase in test scores for Uruguay’s children in years following the laptop distributions. A link to the paper is here.

(Original story from the BBC)

The new principal immediately learned his students’ names. He gave them smiles, hugs and high fives. He led early morning basketball games.

Like those games, he turned academics into a challenge, one that he believed these students could win. And win they did.

Math scores went from 15 percent (the number of students proficient in 2006) to nearly 78 percent this year. Proficient readers increased from nearly 28 percent to almost 71 percent, according to state data.

(Continue reading AP story in WTOP)

Photo courtesy of Sun Star 

An unlikely lobbying group is pressing the U.S. Senate to curb greenhouse gas emissions: American hunting and fishing groups, mostly Republicans, representing tens of millions of votes in the U.S. heartland that could help swing crucial votes as the Senate tries to pass legislation to cut carbon output.

“If you go out and hunt at the same time in the same season and the same place every year, then you understand the changes that are happening,” said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president for conservation at the National Wildlife Federation.

(Continue reading at Reuters)

Photo credit: Fish and Wildlife Service 

With little fanfare, President Obama signed in early October an executive order that will reduce the carbon footprint of the federal government. Federal agencies are ordered to set a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target within 90 days; increase energy efficiency; reduce fleet petroleum consumption; conserve water; reduce waste; support sustainable communities; and leverage Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies.

“As the largest consumer of energy in the U.S. economy, the Federal government can and should lead by example when it comes to creating innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, conserve water, reduce waste, and use environmentally-responsible products and technologies,” said President Obama. “This Executive Order builds on the momentum of the Recovery Act to help create a clean energy economy and demonstrates the Federal government’s commitment, over and above what is already being done, to reducing emissions and saving money.”

The largest air pollution control project in Delaware’s history finally received approval Wednesday, a $500 million plan that could cut smog-forming toxic emissions at the Indian River power plant by 75 percent to 90 percent.

It could also produce up to 500 construction jobs for the Delaware economy.

Continue reading the news article at Delaware Online.

Also read their follow-up Opinion column:
Power plant announcement is good news for state’s health.

Photo credit: U.S. Geological Survey