Let’s celebrate our fabulous home planet today, as well as pledge that we will help make a positive difference in the next year.  Read the last paragraph in my blog entry below (”Earth Days”) if you want some inspiration!

If you’d like to send your friends an Earth Day e-card, check out World Wildlife Fund US which has a small but nice selection on their website. 

It is rather poignant to celebrate our planet on the same day as reading Newsweek’s 100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear.   It’s an inventory of some of our world’s most beautiful places and a reminder that if we let climate change continue we will lose these places.

As Stewart Brand says in Earth Days, we all have a unique opportunity to make a contribution that will last for eons after we’ve passed on.   And if we all do something, then we will be able to save the 5,966 endangered species, feed the one billion people who are hungry, and stop storms and weather problems from destroying lives and areas on our planet.

What are you going to do for the Earth this year?

World Wildlife Fund seems to be leading the way in offering climate friendly tips and tools for Earth Hour.   WWF Canada is offering e-cards that you can use to remind your friends about Earth Hour.  Some Canadian events can be found on the participating cities website. 

Meanwhile, WWF-US has a web page that you can sign up on to help support your state in changing to a climate friendly color.   You can watch a video that shows climate change and some of our world’s landmarks turning off their lights for Earth Hour.  They also have a countdown clock.

The mothership, so to speak, is Earth Hour’s own website with links about every participating country.

This being the Friday File, it wouldn’t seem right to leave out an Earth Hour game (even though if you’re a regular reader of the Friday File you may have seen this little guy before!).  Check it out at the game website.

Enjoy, and join in the worldwide Earth Hour fun!

WWF US (& Canada)

World Wildlife Fund is one of our world’s most recognizable wildlife conservation groups.  Established over 45 years ago, their focus is on protecting the future of nature.  Aside from offering one of the most extensive online gift store item selections (WWF Canada has donated the black-footed ferret adoption kit for the current contest on this blog’s homepage), WWF US offers a range of wallpapers for your desktop including polar bears, snow leopards, panda bears, tigers, penguins, and many other scenes.  All you have to do is sign up for their newsletter.

WWF – UK

WWF – UK offers two screensavers for download, one featuring a variety of adult animals and one with a selection of baby animals.  PC and MAC versions.

Snow Leopard Trust

Since 1981, the Snow Leopard Trust has led the world in studying and protecting the endangered snow leopard.  They offer a downloadable screensaver of photographs from finalists in their 2007 photo contest, as well as one featuring children’s creative and colorful posters from the 2008 poster contest.  Screensavers for MAC are currently being developed.

African Wildlife Foundation

The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is the leading international conservation organization focused on protecting Africa’s wildlife and wild landscapes.  For over 45 years, the organization has worked towards the future prosperity of Africa and its people.  The AWF screensaver has over 15 different photographs of beautiful African wildlife.  As well, if you don’t like a changing screensaver, they have a single picture screensaver of a gorilla and one of an African Elephant.  Available for both PC and MAC.

Orangutan Foundation International

Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas’ foundation is dedicated to preserving and nurturing orangutans.  OFI’s main focus is on continuing the research and conservation activities at the historic Camp Leakey site in the Tanjung Putting Reserve in Central Borneo.  The site was named after Louis Leakey, the famous anthropologist who mentored and inspired Dr. Galdikas, Dr. Goodall and Dian Fossey.  The Foundation offers a choice of four photographic orangutan wallpapers.

CARE Canada

For readers who prefer to have photographs of people as screensavers or wallpaper, check out CARE Canada.  The organization is dedicated to defending dignity and fighting poverty by empowering women and girls, the world’s most vulnerable and greatest resource for change.  This blog’s first homepage article was about one of CARE Canada’s programs.  They offer several human-focused screensavers and wallpapers.

Conservation International

This leading international organization builds on science, partnerships and field demonstrations to care for nature as well as the well-being of humanity.  They have 49 screensavers to choose from, featuring a wide range of human, animal and landscape subjects.

International Crane Foundation

This international organization is dedicated to crane conservation, field ecology, education, veterinary services, and site administration.  They offer a screensaver which is a photograph of two grey-crowned cranes at dawn on the beach in South Africa.  It’s a great photograph but it’s copyrighted so I won’t publish it here – you’ll have to go look at their website to see it. 

The Ocean Project

If you prefer a changing photo that’s not on your desktop, you can enjoy a daily look at The Ocean Project’s Ocean Picture of the Day.  A Newfoundland photo was up the day I looked, and although it took a moment to load it was worth the wait.  It’s like a 30-second holiday by the sea!

A Few Sounds

For my readers who are more hearing-focussed than visually-oriented, check out the different North American Bird Sounds at the bottom of the Organizations list on Acres Land Trust.  The Trust helps to protect the remaining natural habitats in northeast Indiana, southern Michigan and northwest Ohio, and to teach others the value of keeping natural areas intact.

Both World Wildlife Fund US and Canada offer wildlife adoptions complete with stuffed toys.  A friend of mine who has symbolically adopted several animals is quite happily living with WWF stuffed toys on her bookcase, fireplace mantle, and sofa! 

Also, WWF Canada’s Unique  Gifts and WWF US’ Extraordinary Gifts  allow you to contribute money directly to specific projects.  From moving bison to helping to provide Amazon families with a sustainable forest-based income, to helping link and grow isolated panda habitats with corridors of bamboo forest, to others, these gifts are truly meaningful.

Credit: Adopt a Stream Foundation

A little less money will buy many other charitable goods as well.  For example, the Adopt a Stream Foundation offers The Streamkeeper’s Catalogue, which includes a cute Adopt A Stream button for $1, and a trendy Global Warming Mug that claims to actually show the adverse effects of global warming when you pour a hot liquid into the mug.   They also have some cute beaver, owl, eagle, black bear, and hawk finger puppets.

 If you want to support habitat, Conservation International helps you adopt an acre of rainforest, while the African Wildlife Foundation offers the chance to adopt African acres .

To carry your shopping items, grocery items, or other goods, several organizations offer canvas shopping bags.  I’ve ordered one from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund with a handsome gorilla portrait on it, and one from Bornean Sun Bear Conservation with a cute sun bear on it with the words “Save the Sunbear”.   Both bags are being mailed to me.

 These charities also have other goods, and hundreds of other charities offer other affordable and creative goods at affordable prices that let you get your shopping done while supporting our planet.  If you have any favorites, I’d love to hear about them.