We recently came across a thought-provoking column by Yasmine Ryan called “Why Climate Change is Worse for Women.” Ryan cites a U.N. report that climate change affects poor women the most — and women make up 70 percent of the world’s impoverished. Because women also make up the majority of farmers and are responsible for collecting water and wood in poor nations, droughts, water shortages, deforestation and natural disasters have a bigger impact on women and their livelihoods. We believe having our voices heard regarding climate change is important, so, in honor of Earth Day, we’ve collected seven ways to take action!

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We’ve been a proponent of voluntourism since high school, when we spent a summer in Mexico as part of the Amigos de las Américas program. Now, after hearing from a friend who recently helped save leatherback turtle eggs to aid conservation efforts in Tobago, we’re considering taking another volunteer vacation. It’s a great way to see the world and have a positive impact while you’re there. Throughout the month of April, travelers who book one of the 18 trips offered by Planeterra, the nonprofit voluntourism foundation of Gap Adventures, will receive a 10 percent discount. Those booking a voyage during Earth Month through either company also have an option of adding a $5 donation to the Kenya Community Tourism Project.

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At our first magazine job, an orange cursor blinked as the words we typed appeared on a black screen, and the staff of four publications shared one lone computer with Internet access. It’s safe to say we’ve seen a lot of technology advances in our day. But we’ve never seen as much excitement as that surrounding the iPad. In case you somehow haven’t heard, Apple’s new handheld tablet allows easy access to the Internet, email, photos, music, maps, movies — and even books, with the free iBooks app. But we’re most excited, of course, about the new opportunity to read digital magazines, such as VIVmag, on a handheld device with a large screen, through the free Zinio app for iPad. To celebrate, we’re giving away a free iPad — along with a free year membership to VIVmag — to two lucky winners every week now through May 2!

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We’re bombarded daily with advertising urging us to buy things, and subtler but no less effective forms of marketing like product placement in movies and TV. But did you know that the beautiful people ordering a new brand of vodka at the bar might be on a company’s payroll, or that the couple serving you freshly baked cookies at the open house might be actors hired by the Realtor? What if your attractive new neighbors were really a marketing team, planted to shill for products they want you to covet and buy? That’s the premise of The Joneses, a new movie opening Friday starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny as a fake couple who take stealth marketing to a whole new level.

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We admit we teared up while watching the Academy Awards last month during the short clip from The Cove, in which a woman mournfully describes the killing of a dolphin as it struggles to escape. The documentary sheds light on the slaughter of thousands of dolphins and porpoises in Japan, where their meat is labeled and sold at markets as whale, despite containing toxic levels of mercury. When the film won Best Documentary, our search to learn more about the issue took us to TakePart, an online community where people can inform themselves about social, environmental, political and cultural issues. We signed up for the website’s Members Project, a campaign co-sponsored by American Express that awards up to $200,000 in funding to five nonprofit organizations every three months.

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We’re not surprised that actor Toni Collette won an Emmy last fall for her role in the Showtime series United States of Tara. After all, the 37-year-old was the only nominee playing five different roles, the result of her title character’s multiple-personality condition, aka dissociative identity disorder. Inside the suburban wife and mother Tara Gregson also lie a promiscuous teen (T), a prim June Cleaver type (Alice), a swaggering redneck male (Buck) and an animalistic expression of her id (Gimme), all with the ability to emerge at inopportune times — trying the patience of Tara’s husband and kids.

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We admit we’re pretty hard on our toothbrushes, and we replace them even more often than the every three to four months recommended by the American Dental Association. So we were happy to hear about the Radius Source Toothbrush, which minimizes waste with replaceable heads that snap into long-lasting handles made of recycled materials. And if you’re one of the first 500 Facebook users to post a photo or video of a re-use for your old toothbrush on the Radius Earth Day Contest Facebook event page before Earth Day, you’ll receive a free Radius Source toothbrush!

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Glamorously gowned and bejeweled, Brooke Burke is back on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, this time taking over Samantha Harris’ microphone as Tom Bergeron’s co-host. We’re loving her easy rapport with the contestants and her wardrobe, which the big fan of Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Herve Leger, Roberto Cavalli and Versace describes as “sexy couture, more of an edgier look than your typical ball gown.” Burke, who previously hosted shows like Rock Star: Supernova and Wild On, was immediately interested when she heard the job was up for grabs, and believes her insider’s insight as the season 7 winner gives her an advantage. “I completely understand what it’s like to prep and how scary it is for the contestants,” she says, glad she no longer has to deal with the pressure of competition.

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We recycle and try to make environmentally sustainable shopping and dining choices. But we have to admit, the bedroom — specifically between the sheets — isn’t usually a place where we think about greening our lifestyle. Stefanie Iris Weiss, author of Surviving Saturn’s Return (McGraw Hill, 2003) and Everything You Need to Know About Being a Vegan (Rosen Publishing Group, 1999), tackles the topic of an environmentally sustainable sex life in her new book, Eco-Sex (Ten Speed Press, 2010). “If you haven’t thought about greening your sex life, you’re still a total environment disaster,” she writes in the intro, citing flushed condoms in the ocean and roses raised with pesticides as a few environmentally harmful byproducts of romance. The object of the book is to minimize your impact on the earth, while maximizing the action in the bedroom, with thoughtful tips for savvy lifestyle changes.

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For several years, our Earth Day highlight was the delicious free veggie burger at an establishment in Columbus, OH. While the day is about eco-advocacy and environmental awareness — and not freebies — we would always run into friends and acquaintances and saw that the event brought people from the surrounding neighborhoods together to celebrate. So we love the idea of the World of Green shopping site’s daily eco-friendly product giveaways, counting down to Earth Day on April 22. Simply join the WOG community by entering your email and creating a password and sign up to win the daily prize. Upcoming giveaway items include an organic cotton halter from Blue Canoe, a collection of baby-care products from Nature’s Boundaries, a recycled Spanish mosaic tote by Engage Green and, on Earth Day, the NatureMill Plus XE Automatic Composter (left), with a retail value of $399.

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