But don't look for hot-button issues such as global warming on preschooler-oriented Sesame Street—no matter how many sunny days may be sweeping the clouds away.
"Global warming and deforestation—those are really adult concepts, and it's just too scary for children," said Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of research and education at Sesame Workshop, the New York City-based nonprofit that produces Sesame Street.
"The place we're coming from is, 'Let's love and care for the Earth, because it's so beautiful, and we appreciate its awe and wonder, and we're going to respect it.'"
Sesame Street's producers hope that children who learn to love and respect nature early on will grow up to become passionate advocates for our planet.
"When you love something," Truglio said, "you want to take care of it."
The curriculum for Sesame Street changes every two years. The previous curriculum focused on literacy.
Sesame Street's 40th season aims to educate children about the wonders of the natural world and teach them about concepts such as habitats, hibernation, and migration.
No matter where they live, "we want kids to know there's nature in their neighborhoods," Truglio said. In the premiere episode, Michelle Obama—fresh from harvesting the White House's new organic garden in the heart of Washington, D.C.—helped Elmo and Big Bird plant vegetables in the ersatz inner city of Sesame Street.
In another episode, Baby Bear will have trouble hibernating and call in a "hibernation consultant" to help.
The next Sesame Street season, which is currently being written and will air in 2010, will use nature to teach kids the scientific method and encourage them to ask questions, make observations, and test hypotheses about the world around them.
"We try to start from the vantage point of the child's everyday world," said Emily Kingsley, who's written for Sesame Street for 39 years.
"We want to let them know that it's OK to say, I don't know—let's find out."
Promoting environmental awareness is old hat for Sesame Street, said Michael Davis, author of Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.
As far back as the 1970s, Sesame Street included lessons about nature and animals, Davis said. And a recent Sesame Street DVD had fire engine-red Elmo literally turn green while co-hosting "Earth-a-thon"—not to mention Elmo's Green Thumb, a Sesame Street Live production currently touring the United States.
"I think it's been in their soul since the very beginning," Davis added.
"Sesame Street has always been about kindness, if you think about it—kindness in how we treat each other as neighbors and citizens of the same planet," Davis noted. "So it's not at all surprising to me that they're trying to teach kindness to the Earth and our environment."
Source: National Geographic News
The Chapters 
With a little help from U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, Sesame Street
looks to be joining what you might call the 'green party'. As part of
recent celebrations marking the show's 40th-anniversary, the new season
premiere kicked off in the States with a two-year, environmental
"curriculum" called "My World is Green and Growing."
