What You Can Do presents: Fall Paper

Starring: Amanda Kay Schill
Written by: Jessica Arinella and Julie Tortorici
Shot, Edited and Directed by: Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Statistics Provided by: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/paper/faqs.htm

Special Thanks:
Dennis Arinella

What You Can Do presents: Fall Decorations

Starring: Alex Marshall-Brown
Written by: Jessica Arinella and Julie Tortorici
Shot, Edited and Directed by: Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission


Statistics Provided by: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/reduce.htm


Special Thanks:
Dennis Arinella

Protect our Forests

Think there's nothing you can do to Protect our Forests in 1 Minute?

Starring - Alicia Arinella & Jack Halaby
Written by -  Jessica Arinella & Julie Tortorici
Shot, Edited and Directed by - Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Statistical Information provided by: American Forests, www.americanforests.org

Special Thanks: Sarah McVicar and everyone at American Forests, and Dennis Arinella

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

Go Green School Supplies

Think there's nothing you can do to help your child Go Green in 1 Minute when they go back to school?

Starring - Grace Tortorici
Written by -  Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by - Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Special Thanks: Dennis Arinella

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

An Interview with Abby Ray, Communications Associate at The Rainforest Alliance

Here is Part 2 of our interview with Abby Ray, our contact at the Rainforest Alliance.

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What would happen if all of our rainforests disappeared?
With the release of all of that CO2 into the atmosphere from cutting all of those trees, we’d see a big impact on climate change. There would be major soil erosion, waterway contamination, increased instances of malaria and increased illness. We’d lose species that currently we don’t even know exist, and we’d lose all of those precious and unique creatures that only reside in rainforests.

What is the connection between conserving the rainforest and social and economic factors?
We see sustainability as having three equally important pillars: environmental, social and economic. For many poor communities living in areas of high biodiversity, the forest is worth more cut down than it is standing. They can sell the timber and grow agricultural products, or graze cattle. If forests are to have a higher value intact, they need to provide local communities with a sustainable livelihood, and that’s where the social and economic factors come into play. Without those components, we’ll continue to see rainforest destruction and illegal logging in “preserved areas,” despite our best intentions. If communities can receive Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)/Rainforest Alliance certification for their forests, they often have better market access and can learn to responsibly manage their land so that it retains wildlife and its precious ecosystems. We have also developed a climate initiative to work on helping communities receive payment for ecosystem services – or compensating landowners for the carbon that their forests store.

What can the average person do to help conserve the rainforest?
It is up to all of us to act responsibly. You can help protect ecosystems and the people and wildlife that depend on them by holding an Adopt-A-Rainforest fundraiser, becoming a member of the Rainforest Alliance and buying responsibly produced foods, wood and paper products. You can look for the Rainforest Alliance Certified green frog seal in your local grocery stores. Take responsible vacations, and ask questions about the hotel’s social and environmental policies. We have all of these tips and more on our Green Living Tips page: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/support.cfm?id=tips.

Is there anything that you would like add?
You can watch great videos on our website for an easier way to understand what we do:The Rainforest Alliance. Also, follow us on
Twitter and Facebook .

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To find out more about the Rainforest or about the Rainforest Alliance, please visit - The Rainforest Alliance.

Certified Wood

Think there's nothing you can do to help Protect our Rainforests in 1 Minute?

Starring - Damion Fitz
Written by -  Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by - Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Statistical Information Provided by: The Rainforest Alliance, www.rainforest-alliance.org,

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Special Thanks: Abby Ray and everyone at The Rainforest Alliance, and Dennis Arinella

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

10 Things to Help the Rainforest

Think there's nothing you can do to help Protect our Rainforests in 1 Minute?

Starring - Maria Christina Perry
Written by -  Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by - Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Statistical Information Provided by: The Rainforest Alliance, www.rainforest-alliance.org,

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Special Thanks: Abby Ray and everyone at The Rainforest Alliance, and Dennis Arinella

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

Adopt an Acre of Rainforest

Think there's nothing you can do to help Protect our Rainforests in 1 Minute?

Starring - Abby Lynn Mulay
Written by - Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by - Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Statistical Information Provided by: The Rainforest Alliance, www.rainforest-alliance.org,

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Special Thanks: Abby Ray and everyone at The Rainforest Alliance, and Dennis Arinella

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

Click for the Rainforest

Think there's nothing you can do to help Protect our Rainforests in 1 Minute?

Starring - Alicia Arinella & Dennis Arinella
Written by -  Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by - Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Statistical Information Provided by: The GreaterGood Network, and Dennis Arinella

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Special Thanks: Rosemary Jones and everyone at the GreaterGood Network, www.therainforestsite.com

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

Buy Rainforest Alliance Certified

Think there's nothing you can do to help Protect our Rainforests in 1 Minute?

Starring - Julie Tortorici
Written by -  Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by - Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Statistical Information Provided by: The Rainforest Alliance - www.rainforest-alliance.org

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Special Thanks: Abby Ray and everyone at the Rainforest Alliance, and Dennis Arinella

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

An Interview with Abby Ray, Communications Associate at the Rainforest Alliance, part 1

When we asked our “What You Can Do “ fans which topics were of most concern to them, an overwhelming majority said protecting our rainforests. Thus we set off to complete a week of one minute ideas dedicated to halting the destruction of this precious resource. In the course of our research we were lucky enough to find The Rainforest Alliance whose help and expertise proved invaluable in our assembly of this week.

Here Abby Ray, our contact at The Rainforest Alliance, took the time to answer some questions for us . Please read on for Part 1 of our interview.

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Please tell us why rainforest conservation is important?
It’s important to conserve rainforests, in part, because they are often considered “the lungs of the planet,” absorbing much of the carbon dioxide that can contribute to climate change. Also, the rainforest is home to rich biodiversity, and some plants and animals only exist in the rainforest. There’s a reason why rainforests are called the “world’s largest pharmacies;” we have already developed medicines to fight cancer, diabetes and heart diseases from rainforest plants, and more cures could be found there. One-quarter of the Western medicines that we use today are derived from plants, yet less than one percent of these tropical trees and plants have been screened by scientists for pharmaceutical properties. Deforestation causes destruction of wildlife habitat and therefore loss of wildlife, the release of carbon dioxide which contributes to climate change, soil erosion, contaminated waterways and often poor health conditions for local communities.

Please tell us a little bit about the Rainforest Alliance.
The Rainforest Alliance, an international nonprofit organization, works with people whose livelihoods depend on the land, helping them transform the way they grow food, harvest wood and host travelers. From large multinational corporations to small, community-based cooperatives, businesses and consumers worldwide are involved in the Rainforest Alliance’s efforts to bring responsibly produced goods and services to a global marketplace where the demand for sustainability is growing steadily. We work in sustainable agriculture, forestry, tourism and climate.

How much of the rainforest is lost ever year?
Nearly half of the Earth's original forest cover has already been lost, and each year an additional 32 million acres (13 million hectares) are destroyed (a land area the size of Nicaragua or the State of Louisiana).

Why is the rainforest being destroyed?
Around the world, people are clearing land to grow crops. While people need to grow food, in many countries, there are no laws to prevent people from entering a forest, cutting it down, burning the dry vegetation, and planting seeds. Because most of a rainforest's nutrients are found in its diverse flora, the soils that support so much biodiversity are actually quite thin and poor. The farmers can grow crops in the ashes of burned forests for a few years, but eventually, the nutrient-poor soils give out, and the colonists must move farther into the forest and start over. The abandoned lands are often used by ranchers to graze livestock. On average, six acres of pastureland in the tropics are needed to feed just one cow. People who need wood for fuel also cause deforestation. When timber companies cut down valuable hardwoods in a forest in an irresponsible way, the process usually destroys all surrounding vegetation and jeopardizes the wildlife that depended on that lost vegetation. Illegal logging is also a problem. Development projects like dams, new settlements, highways and large-scale mining and petroleum projects are also leading causes of deforestation. In the Amazon, in particular, forests are being cut down to grow soy beans and acai, graze cattle and build developments. Other tropical areas face similar threats but from different crops like palm oil, sugar cane or sun-grown coffee.

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To find out more about the Rainforest or about the Rainforest Alliance, please visit - The Rainforest Alliance.

Finding the Rainforest

Here’s what I think of when I think about the rainforest. Rain. Plants. Wet plants. Trees. Wet trees. Monkey. Birds. Loads of bugs. Sometimes I think about snakes as well – but I try to avoid that at all costs. Here are the things I don’t think about: coffee, chocolate (something I try to think about as often as possible), rubber, my kitchen cabinets and my parent’s fern plant. And yet... They are all related. Nobody needed to convince me that the rainforests are important. The fact that scientist believe it likely that there are some, as yet, undiscovered species living there was more than enough of a reason for me to think that maybe we shouldn’t destroy it. However, I hadn’t before realized that even if you don’t LIVE in a rainforest, you are basically living OFF of the rainforest. Then I thought... Geez... I need to recycle more than I do.

And that is to say the very least.

Thanks for watching this week’s focus on deforestation.

What You Can Do presents: "Combat Deforestation Sustainably"

Action Link: Sustainable Harvest

Starring: Julie Tortorici
Written by: Jessica Arinella and Julie Tortorici
Shot, Edited and Directed by: Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group

Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission and Sustainable Harvest International/Myriad Media

Statistical Information provided by: Sustainable Harvest International



Special Thanks:
Sarah Kennedy and everyone at Sustainable Harvest International
Dennis Arinella

What You Can Do presents: "Reduce Junk Mail"

Think there's nothing you can do about deforestation in one minute?




Starring: Fernando Alicea
Written by: Jessica Arinella and Julie Tortorici
Shot, Edited and Directed by: Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group
Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Statistical Information provided by : Native Forest/WildWest Institute, and NativeForest.org>

Special Thanks: Matthew Koehler and everyone at the WildWest Institute, Dennis Arinella

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

Fight Deforestation

Think there's nothing you can do to help fight Deforestation in 1 Minute?

Starring: Damion Fitz
Written by: Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by: Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Consulting Producer: Mary Micari
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group
Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Statistical information provided by: The Bergen County Utilities Authority, www.bcua.org

Special Thanks: Angela Bonanno-Lynch and everyone at the Bergen County Utilities Authority, and Dennis Arinella

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com.

Diary of an American Shopper day 173

I know I've talked about it before, but I love this country. I love the different landscapes it offers. I'm always amazed that we have: oceans, deserts, rivers, streams, rainforest, glaciers, volcanoes, mountains, valleys, badlands, canyons, islands, capes, wetlands, basins, reefs, archipelagos, geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, plains, cities and towns. It is awesome in it's size and resources. As we celebrate, Earth Day, I want to share with you a few facts about this great land of ours.

Hawaii is the only state that features almost all of our landscape features in one location - it has oceans, mountains, valleys, deserts, volcanoes and rainforest. It's an amazing place, and the only state that is growing every year. As the Kilauea volcano continues to erupt on the big island, she continues to add land mass to the island. Therefore, making Hawaii our youngest state both in in adoption to the union, and in it's time on the earth. And this change is happening solely because of Mother Nature.

But what about the areas of our country that are changing because of Us?

At one point, the wetlands along the Gulf Coast, protected our shores from all sorts of natural disasters as well as housed wildlife and improved the overall water quality of the area. On the EPA's website, I learned that an acre of wetland can store 1-1.5 million gallons of floodwater. That up to one-half of North American bird species nest or feed in the wetlands, and Although wetlands keep only about 5% of the land surface in the lower 48 United States, they are home to 31 percent of our plant species. And despite these fact, the US loses about 60,000 acres of the wetlands each year. That gave me pause. The wetlands along the gulf coast are deteriorating. And I want to do something about it.

Glacier National Park in northern Montana is losing it's glacier's at a staggering rate. This year, it lost an additional two glaciers, and experts are predicting that the remaining 25 glaciers could be gone by the end of the decade. These glaciers are disappearing at such an alarming rate that Dan Fagre, an ecologist with The U.S. Geological Survey stated, "When we're measuring glacier margins, by the time we go home the glacier is already smaller than what we've measured." I find that terribly upsetting. Glacier Bay once homed 137 glaciers and now, we could live in a world where our children may never understand where this National Park got it's name. These glaciers feed the streams and therefore ecosystem of the region. Also, without the water flow, the chance of forest fires also increases.

But what can we do? In the spirit of What You Can Do, I pledge to make one simple change to help save these Wetlands and Glaciers. I vow that I will not purchase any new yarn (I'm an avid crocheter) or books for the next 6 months. I will use what I have, and donate the money I save to organizations that address these issues.

I mark day 173 a depressing but motivating challenge. Will you join me?

Social Decorum and The Need for Sustainability: One Vegan's Quest Not To Sound Like a Self-Righteous Bore, a Guest Blog by Eric Walton

Social Decorum and The Need for Sustainability: One Vegan's Quest Not To Sound Like a Self-Righteous Bore, a Guest Blog written by, Eric Walton

On April 22nd of this year, Earth Day will turn forty and eight months later, so will I; which means that for exactly half of my life, I will have been a devout vegan. And yet, when asked to explain why I am a vegan, as I often am, I'm nearly always stymied by the question. Not because I don't have plenty of good reasons for not eating animals and the food made from them, but because I know that giving anything like a complete answer will often result in terrible awkwardness.

For instance, I sometimes give this pithy answer that only partially accounts for my decision to abstain from animal foods: “I don't eat animals because I believe in compassion more than I like the taste of muscles and organs.” And true though that is, it always sounds sanctimonious and preachy. I realize that I have no reason to apologize for the moral clarity I feel on this issue, but nonetheless, I'd rather not sound like a sententious prick to someone who's just asking a polite question.

Still other times someone will ask why I'm a vegan and I'll respond with the somewhat more ambiguous answer that, “It's for ethical as well as environmental reasons.” This will sometimes allow me to expatiate briefly on the demonstrable links between a meat-based diet and deforestation; water-shortages; desertification; top-soil erosion and water and air pollution. If time permits, I might even mention that in the U.S. alone, over 260,000,000 acres of forest have been converted to cropland to grow feed for farm animals. And though these are also perfectly legitimate and sensible reasons for eating low on the food-chain, who wants to ruin someone else's otherwise happy meal by confronting them with the damage done to the planet just so they could eat it? I'll tell you who: party-poopers.

When I'm feeling especially indignant about the state of the world and the social injustice and economic disparity with which a meat-based diet is inextricably linked, I'll sometimes reply to the curious that I'm a vegan for political reasons, that I find it unconscionable that over half the world's grains are fed to livestock, while 16,000 children starve to death on this planet every twenty-four hours; and that is to say nothing of the 84,000 adults who suffer the same hideous fate every single day, in part because the grains that could have been used as sustenance for them are instead being fed to cows, pigs and chickens. Take it from me, introducing that little bit of trivia into the conversation is the perfect way to get yourself crossed right off the guest-list.

And on those occasions on which I'm feeling particularly philosophical (as is often the case) and am in the company of those who seem to be of like mind (as is seldom the case), I may invoke Kant's Categorical Imperative and state solemnly that in sparing the lives of animals and showing solidarity with the world's needy and hungry by eating a diet that doesn't deprive them of the means to feed themselves and their families, I am acting, “according to that maxim whereby I can at the same time will that my actions should become a universal law.” Of course, when in a Thoreauvian state of mind, I may explain that though I am not bound to devote myself to the eradication of any evil, I am obliged to wash my hands of it and lend it no practical support. I cannot tell you the number of friends of I have won with that bit of rhetoric.

Socially speaking, certainly the most palatable reason one can offer for being a vegan or vegetarian is simply that it is healthy. Given the amount of research that has been done on the subject and the ready access to information that we in the 21st century enjoy, many people already know that compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians not only live, on average, six to ten years longer and are fifty percent less likely to develop heart disease, but also tend to have lower body mass indexes; lower blood pressure; lower blood cholesterol levels as well as lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes and colon and prostate cancers. And, as vegans Natalie Portman and Alicia Silverstone can attest, it helps keep you skinny. Not surprisingly, the most solipsistic reasons for being a vegan can be the most agreeable to many people in our image-obsessed culture. Perhaps for this reason, I am almost never content to defend the vegan diet on the basis of its health benefits alone, even when doing so might bring relief to the poor sod who had the impertinence to inquire about it.

As the 40th anniversary of Earth Day approaches, as the connection between diet and the environment becomes more and more demonstrable and as climate-change threatens to imperil the future of our own species and many, many others, I am compelled (nay, obliged!) to answer the question “Why are you a vegan?” with a truth so inconvenient that even the venerable Al Gore is (so far) reluctant to mention it: the vegan diet combats global-warming.

Consider this:

*The production of just one pound of beef creates as much greenhouse gas as driving an SUV forty miles.
*Following a vegan diet decreases your carbon footprint by fifty percent more than switching to a hybrid car; and for every person who follows a vegan diet, one acre of trees is spared each year.
*According to Goveg.com, “In the U.S., seventy percent of all grains, eighty percent of all agricultural land, half of all water resources, and one-third of all fossil fuels are used to raise animals for food.”
*A study at the University of Chicago concluded that if every American had just one meat-free day per week, it would be the equivalent of taking 8,000,000 cars off the road.
Given the clear and unequivocal evidence of the connection between meat-production and global-warming, it is, I believe, a matter of great moral urgency to inform those who will listen of that connection, regardless of the social stigmas that may result. However, as everything is more pleasant when delivered in rhyme, I have composed the following Limerick to help soften the blow:

As you sit serenely devouring your steak medium-rare,
I would indeed be remiss not to tell you, “Beware,
Of the horrible things that brought that meat to your fork,
(And the same applies, I might add, to fish, fowl and pork)
And, incidentally, you're wounding the planet, perhaps beyond repair.

*G Eshel and PA Martin, “Diet, energy, and global warming,” Earth Interactions 10, Paper No. 9 (2006): 1-17.
www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html and www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=263

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation

*H. Steinfeld et al., Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, Livestock, Environment and Development (2006).

*NewScientist.com, "It's Better to Green Your Diet Than Your Car," 17 Dec. 2005.

*Andrew Pierce, "Global Warming Is Mankind’s Greatest Challenge, Says Prince," The Times 28 Oct. 2005.

*http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalwarming.asp

*Diet For A New America by John Robbins, Stillpoint Publishing (1987)

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Guest blog written by, Eric Walton

Go Green Work Paper

Think there's nothing you can do to go green at work in 1 Minute?

Starring: Damion Fitz
Written by: Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by: Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group
Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Statistical Information Provided by: The Environmental Protection Agency

Special Thanks: Dennis Arinella.

For more information, please visit - www.whatyoucando365.com

Think there's nothing you can do to combat Deforestation in 1 Minute?

Think there's nothing you can do to combat Deforestation in 1 Minute? Watch this.

Starring: Damion Fitz
Written by: Julie Tortorici & Jessica Arinella
Shot, Edited and Directed by: Alicia Arinella
Produced by: On the Leesh Productions
Consulting Producer: Mary Micari
Music by: Banana Whale
What You Can Do Logo Created by: SCG Siddharth Creative Group
Additional Footage Provided by: Shutterstock, Inc. Used by Permission

Statistical information provided by: The Bergen County Utilities Authority, www.bcua.org

Special Thanks:
Angela Bonanno-Lynch and everyone at the Bergen County Utilities Authority, Siller Wilk LLP, Mary Micari, Mai Gebara Rashid
Dennis Arinella and everyone at WLIW