This week’s featured poet is Afaa Michael Weaver. His poem “Leaves” was inspired by the garden of a Zen monastery in Taiwan.

President Obama’s proposed budget would eliminate almost all federal funding for environmental education. Sean Miller, of the Earth Day Network, says this isn’t how he wants to celebrate Earth Day.

Each year, the Goldman Prize honors grassroots environmental activists from around the world. Host Bruce Gellerman talks to the 2012 North American recipient, Caroline Cannon, from the Inupiat community of Point Hope, Alaska. Cannon is fighting to keep Arctic waters safe from offshore oil and gas drilling.

Internet use and the demand for storage in the cloud are soaring. A new report from Greenpeace looks at data storage companies and their energy use. Gary Cook, an IT analyst at Greenpeace, tells host Bruce Gellerman that companies like Apple should be transparent about their energy use and invest more in renewable energy. One company, Akamai, ranks high on energy transparency in Greenpeace’s report. Nicole Peill-Moelter is Akamai’s Director of Sustainability. She says Akamai wants to help other businesses be more efficient but the company knows firsthand that affordable renewable energy is not always available on a large scale.

Conservationists and Gulf Coast officials say the effects of the BP oil disaster will be widespread and long lasting, and itÂ’s time to start thinking about a large-scale, long-term response. They say the best way to help the fragile marshes recover from the oil is an ambitious plan to restore the disappearing wetlands of the Mississippi Delta. LOEÂ’s Jeff Young reports from the Louisiana coast.

The well is capped but the Gulf oil disaster is not over. Oil remains in the water and is taking a toll on the ecosystem. Senior National Wildlife Federation biologist Doug Inkley tells host Bruce Gellerman that oily plankton is making dolphins and other marine life sick. Also, the two co-chairs of the National Oil Spill Commission, Florida Senator Bob Graham and former EPA Administrator William K. Reilly, grade the progress industry and government have made on making the oil drilling safer. The resulting report card isn’t good.

Plunging solar panel prices and cheap natural gas are putting financial pressure on some players in the solar industry. But the solar installation sector keeps growing and, as Living on Earth’s Ingrid Lobet reports, the latest rooftop systems are bigger than ever.

Alki Beach is a popular destination for Seattle natives, and it’s also home to some of the region’s seal population. Seal pups are left alone on shore while their mothers search the sea for food, and curious people and dogs endanger the young seals. But a group of concerned neighbors called Seal Sitters have banded together to protect the pups and educate people. Seal Sitter founder Brenda Peterson, author of the children’s book “Leopard and Silkie” and 11 year old volunteer Etienne, spoke with host Bruce Gellerman about their quest to save seal pups.

Pepertra Akite is a scientist who studies butterflies at a university in the capital city of Uganda. Since she began studying butterflies as a girl, the landscape of her homeland has changed radically, for butterflies as well as people. Ari Daniel Shapiro reports from Uganda.