Across the country, wildlife is already feeling the effects of a changing climate. In the Arctic, warming temperatures are melting the sea ice and snow pack that polar bears, arctic foxes and snowshoe hares depend on to find food and raise their young. Off our coasts, ocean acidification threatens coral reefs and the incredible diversity of marine life they support. In the west, increased droughts are drying up the streams and rivers favored by salmon and trout and setting the scene for forest fires in the very places lynx and wolverine call home. In every state, the story is the same: the thermometer is rising, and wildlife is paying the price.
But just because lawmakers in Washington aren’t taking steps to stop climate change doesn’t mean YOU can’t make a difference in your life! In fact, many people are ALREADY making changes to their lifestyles to decrease their carbon footprint. Are you one of them? Let us know! Make a short video and tell us, in 30 seconds or less, what steps you’re taking to protect wildlife across the country from the harmful impacts of a warming world. And tell us what animal you are doing it for! We’ll feature the videos every Red Hot and Green Friday from Earth Day until the 4th of July, so you can see how people around the country are taking charge and taking action.
It’s a call to action—this is your country, how are you working to protect it from the threat of climate change?
Whether it’s recycling for Red Wolves or taking the train for tortoise—every little bit helps. We want to hear from YOU!
Filming your Red Hot and Green video is easy! Just follow the instructions below:
Record the Video
- Fancy equipment not required… If you don’t have a video camera, the video setting on your digital camera or even your cell phone will do. Since you’ll need to post the video to YouTube, check out the file formats it supports before recording.
- Keep it brief—30 seconds or less.
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Show us what you’re doing to help fight climate change.
- Tell us who you are, what you’re doing, and what animal you’re supporting. For example, if you’re drying your laundry on a clothesline instead of using a dryer, you could say:“I’m hanging my clothes on the line for lobsters!”Check out the sample video at right to see what we mean.
- Save the video to your computer hard drive.
Share the Video
- You’ll need a YouTube account to post your video online. If you don’t already have one, sign up here.
- Click the Upload button at the top of the page and then click the Yellow Upload button.
- On the upload page, give your video a title and a description that explains how what you’re doing is helping fight climate change.In the Tags box, make sure you put “Red Hot and Green” so we’ll know how to find your video to add to our playlist. You can add other tags as well to help people find your video through search engines. Use commas to separate terms and put quotation marks around phrases that should be kept together.Select a category from the dropdown box and check the button that says Public in the Privacy section.
- Click Save Changes.
That’s it!
Once we’ve reviewed your video*, we’ll add it to our Red Hot and Green playlist and it may even be featured right here on the blog!
If you have any questions, please send an email to redhotandgreen@defenders.org.
* Defenders of Wildlife reserves the right to accept or refuse submissions at our own discretion.
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