The stampede down the stairs and into the living room could've been any moment on any day. It could've been just for the heck of it, running unchained through the house, yelling wildly for any reason. But on this day, as they hit the living room floor, the three of them dispersed through the house on a mission.

"Save the polar bears!" the children yelled, reaching for light switches, shutting off the computer and inspecting anything electric for possible waste.

The night before, and the night before that, we read a book. It was a "Little Critter" book by Mayer Mercer, an anthropomorphic tome that parallels our own real world, right down to Earth Day. Yep, Earth Day, something that comes once a year but really needs to be 365 days, especially if you ask the children.

The children, you see, are worried about the polar bears. Those large, white, fluffy and deceptively ferocious ursine are losing their homes along the ice caps of the great north. And regardless of whether you blame human consumption or a natural phenomenon for the climate change that is consuming the ice of the north and other things as well, a little responsible behavior goes a long way.

So the kids are running through the house turning things off, chanting their mantra, "Save the polar bears." And at each moment, when I am conscious enough to process this great lesson, I remind them of some other task like composting vegetable waste instead of throwing it in the trash, reciting their mantra, "Save the polar bears."

The other day, I took the three younger ones to Port Discover, our science museum for children. Our friend Bonnie Calliotte explained to the kids about things such as ecology, pollution, recycling and so forth. And they were able to answer questions, and engage Bonnie, but that wasn't the jewel of the event, not for that group of kids anyhow.

Kids are hands-on beings who seem to learn best by doing rather than absorbing. Drill and practice methods of teaching anything pale in comparison to watching children get into action and that's what these kids did as Bonnie led them outdoors.

In the spirit of the topic, the kids all donned gloves, gathered in a line and ran around the waterfront picking up trash. You see, they were more than happy to pick up the trash because when told about how a plastic bag can dominate the ocean ecology and change fish habitat, or how cigarette butts don't break down and just sit there, in the street, or how Styrofoam too does little to help the environment, these younger humans, with their concrete reasoning, launched into action and picked up trash.

Kids have a funny way about them, you know. They desire so badly to do the right thing, and so they follow us, the adults, and imitate us in hopes that whatever it is we're doing is the right thing. It seems that for us, the adults, it feels like a case of the blind leading the blind, not being certain ourselves which way to turn, what to do, who to believe. Yet we do, really, have common sense and we know that regardless of whether or not we want to believe the facts about global warming and climate change, there are some pretty sensible things to do, and if you're not sure, well then, follow the children and listen for their battle cry as they turn off the lights, compost, recycle and pick up trash, "Save the polar bears!"