You wouldn’t know it from the news, but there’s a major fossil-fuel spill ongoing in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. A leak from a gas platform operated by the French energy company Total SA was first detected on March 25 and has…

When my 4-year-old daughter discovered the documentary series Blue Planet II, thanks to a relative who shares her love of marine life, I was thrilled that she wanted to watch it instead of animated standbys like The Octonauts and Llama Llama.  I counted it as a parenting victory: My preschooler…