Photo via Lily Allen

In a recent visit to witness the impacts of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest first-hand, Lily Allen was confronted with an unwelcome guest in her bed – a tarantula. It’s safe to say that screaming and fleeing the room soon followed.

I won’t recap the spider’s gruesome fate here. (Let’s just say it involved a shoe.) In Lily’s defense, she didn’t exactly order a hit on the lil’ fellow, so let’s give her a break on that one.

Lily’s trip brought her to Acre in Brazil, where WWF and Sky are partnering on the Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign. The campaign aims to fight climate change by saving over one billion trees. Their focus is educating local communities on more sustainable ways to earn a living from the forest than cattle ranching, which is one of the main causes of deforestation.

For example, the Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign supports projects to sustainably harvest Brazil nuts and rubber. Part of Lily’s trip included touring a condom factory where rubber tappers can get a fair price for their product. (Stop giggling!)

The Amazon is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, not to mention extremely important in regulating the Earth’s climate. Rainforests absorb lots of carbon dioxide as well as release oxygen into the atmosphere. The impact of deforestation is huge – it accounts for over 15% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Lily hopes her visit will draw attention to the issue and get people involved, especially because deforestation’s consequences aren’t always immediately visible.

As Lily explains:

“The situation in the rainforest has implications for all of us. The solutions are not easy, but we need to tease out those complexities – just because there’s not a human face it doesn’t mean this isn’t serious.”

The Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign hopes to raise £2 million (about $2.9 million) for this project over the next three years. Sky will match all donations, bringing the campaign’s total to £4 million (about $5.7 million). You can support the campaign by sponsoring an acre of forest, adopting a jaguar, or making one-time donation.

via ecorazzi

Photo by Rankin via Oxfam

We’re increasingly understanding that the environmental movement is not just about hugging trees and saving the whales, it’s about people too. That’s why musicians like Fatboy Slim, Jarvis Cocker, VV Brown, and Little Boots are lending their faces – painted blue – to Oxfam’s “Blue in the Face” campaign.

The new campaign urges world leaders attending the climate summit in Copenhagen this December to address the needs of poor communities dealing with the impacts of global warming. From the destruction of homes to limited access to clean water to food shortages, the poor are especially hit hard by the effects of more frequent and severe natural disasters caused by climate change.

Photographed by fashion photographer Rankin, these celebrity pics are just the beginning of an online photo gallery of supporters. That’s right! You too can join in the face painting fun and “take action on climate change until you’re blue in the face.”

Oxfam will be at festivals all over the UK to help with face painting and photo snapping. They’ll present the petition to the UK government just in time for the summit, asking for reduced global carbon emissions and funds to help poor areas adapt to environmental changes. The big kickoff starts this weekend at Glastonbury.

via Treehugger

Photo via Meat Free Monday

It’s Paul McCartney’s 67th birthday! And what Paul wants most is not for us to sing “(na na na na na na) you say it’s your birthday,” but to show our support for his newest endeavor, Meat Free Monday, which officially launched this week.

Paul, a longtime vegetarian and advocate for the ethical treatment of animals, recognizes that not everyone is willing or ready to make the switch to a completely meat-free diet. Instead, he’s asking us to forgo meat for just one day a week:

“I think many of us feel helpless in the face of environmental challenges, and it can be hard to know how to sort through the advice about what we can do to make a meaningful contribution to a cleaner, more sustainable, healthier world. Having one designated meat free day a week is actually a meaningful change that everyone can make, that goes to the heart of several important political, environmental and ethical issues all at once.”

Sir Paul is encouraging us to go veggie not only because it’s healthy and animal-friendly, but also because it helps fight global warming.

Huh? What’s the connection between eating meat and climate change? According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the livestock industry accounts for upwards of 18% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Eating meat is so energy intensive, in fact, that Compassion in World Farming estimates that the average UK household can reduce more emissions by cutting their meat consumption in half than by cutting their car use in half.

He’s making it real easy for us to skip the meat by sharing vegetarian recipes from his dearly departed wife Linda’s cookbook each week. The UK’s top chefs are also contributing their favorite meat-free dishes.

Hey Paul? I signed up. “I’m glad it’s your birthday. Happy birthday to you.”