“Save the Rainforest” has been an environmentalist battle cry since I can remember—certainly since before I was born. With acres constantly destroyed for money—most often for logging and cattle grazing, of all things—it’s a wonder we even have any left. No matter what South Park says, the rainforest is a pretty amazing place full of diverse life, medicinal cures and new discoveries every year. I think it’s worth protecting, and if you do too, here are a few things we can do together during this year’s World Rainforest Week.

The week’s festivities are organized by the Rainforest Action Network, which is hosting a bunch of different activities. You can get involved by…

• Downloading the movie Green for free and hosting a screening of it. It tells the story about the destruction of the rainforest through the eyes of an orangutan. If you want to host a movie screening, you can email RAN at Hillary@ran.org and get questions and suggestions for your screening.
•  Write about the importance of the rainforest to you and post it on your blog, as a Facebook note, or on your website. Share your letter with the local paper or read bits of it by calling in to a morning talk show on the radio. Change your Facebook status to “Save the rainforest this week! Take action by visiting…” and add this blog’s link or one of your own choosing.
• Download free lesson plans, flash cards and other activities to share with any children that you teach or babysit. You could make this part of your science curriculum, or host a special speaking program at school or the library.
• Talk about the rainforest with little kiddos by using a cartoon, such as It’s a Big Big World or Go, Diego, Go as inspiration. You could look up information about red-eye tree frogs or sloths afterwards and teach how important it is to protect their homes.
• Visit click-to-donate sites to provide much needed funding for rainforest protection. Make one your homepage for the week—or for good! Share it on your social networking pages. Some sites you might want to check out include The Rainforest Site, Click to Save the Rainforest, and Ecology Fund.
• Refuse to buy paper products that are not recycled—and pressure companies to only sell recycled paper. By chopping down old growth trees for items as frivolous as facial tissue paper, companies are killing the rainforests by adding insult to injury.