We all have our favorite animals, but some species need our help more than others. Are you ready to lend a paw?

Tiger
It's hard to imagine a more iconic and recognizable species than the tiger. They are top predators, keeping the food chain balanced. Tigers are famous for their strength and power, reportedly covering up to 10 meters in a single horizontal leap. Yet only 3,200 tigers may be left in the wild, and their original roaming areas have decreased by 40 percent in the past ten years.

Deforestation and poaching are the chief culprits behind the tigers becoming endangered mammals. You can help by contributing to the Save the Tiger fund, a program of the National Fish and Wildlife Federation.

Magellanic Penguin
Penguins: Their social nature and waddling gait endears them to animal lovers worldwide. Unfortunately, 12 of the 17 penguin species are experiencing population declines. Why? Magellanic penguins, which live in South American waters, have faced a host of obstacles -- first, oil spills, and more recently, a loss of the fish they eat due to rising temperatures of ocean water.

Defenders of Wildlife sponsors a program which enables you to adopt a penguin, with funds going towards programs to help this endangered species.

We love celebrities! Even more, we love celebrities who use their fame to bring attention to good causes, like dolphins, clean water, solar power and animal rights.

Like any popularity contest, our favorite celebrities change over time. And some of them we love more than others, because really, all of that advocacy can get just a bit strident at times.

Wondering who's eco-star is rising, and who is falling out of favor? Here's our take on the top 5 Eco-Friendly stars for 2010, and the celebrities from whom they're stealing the titles!

Kittens! Puppies! So adorable, but sadly there are far more sweet baby pets than homes to take them. One of the kindest, and greenest, things you can do as a pet owner is to spay or neuter your four-footed friends.

To encourage this responsible owner behavior, The Humane Society of the United States' and Humane Society International sponsor Spay Day. It's an annual event to encourage people to spay or neuter your pet, as well as feral cats.

The official Spay Day is the last Tuesday of February, and the 16th annual Spay Day will be Feb. 23, 2010. To generate awareness of the problem, and to raise funds to support spaying programs, HSUS and HSI are hosting the Spay Day Online Pet Photo Contest, with VISA and Zazzle as corporate partners.

It's hard to believe that Earth Hour started just three years ago, in 2007. In this short period of time, a one hour, one-time action by two million people in Sydney, Australia, has grown into an international movement with nearly one billion participants.

The idea is simplicity itself: Everyone, at the same time, all over the world, turns off their lights for one hour. It's a symbolic gesture to show that people can work together to address the climate crisis.

Last year there were participants in 87 countries. Some of the major landmarks that shut off their lights for an hour included the Parthenon in Athens, Big Ben and Houses of Parliament in London, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and of course the Sydney Opera House. According to the Earth Hour site, it was the largest mass action in human history.

On January 20th the Senate is voting on the national debt ceiling. An important issue, but hardly one that concerns environmentalists, right?

In a sane world, that would be the case. However, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has drafted a completely unrelated amendment to the bill which would hamstring the EPA's ability to enforce the Clean Air Act by banning them from regulating carbon dioxide as pollutant.

This is contrary to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the EPA in fact must regulate greenhouse emissions, and standards, such as those for new car emissions.

Sometimes I feel like every other post I write is about PETA -- and there's a good reason for that. Those vegan wacktivists are busy, and when they pull a stunt, they make sure it gets pushed out with a newsworthy angle.

I'd forgotten half of PETA's antics in 2009. Lucky thing they released this handy video round up of their greatest hits! First thing you'll notice: it's 10 minutes long. See? Busy!

Second thing? They convince a huge number of people, celebrity and "regular folk" to take off their clothes in the name of animal-rights. Paul McCartney, Jenna Jameson, and "Lettuce Ladies."

How many times have you walked or driven past a vacant city lot and wished that someone would do something with that space?

In some case, Guerrilla Gardeners are taking action themselves, transforming neglected land into community parks, flower patches or urban vegetable gardens.

Richard Reynolds, the subject of the video above, is the author of "On Guerrilla Gardening" a book about this form of green direct action, which is almost 400 years old and practiced in more than 30 countries.

The two week long carnival in Copenhagen, which featured dramatic politics and inventive activism, mixed in with a genuine desire to address climate change, wrapped up hours past the planned deadline, with a whimper that disappointed many.

Even before COP15 started, it was clear that a binding international agreement was a long shot. The first week was marred by disagreements over process and responsibilities -- particularly over who was going to foot the inevitable bill -- and the split between developed and developing countries got worse as week two progressed.

In the end, the US, China, India and Brazil announced a non-binding statement of intent, and almost all of the countries participating in COP15 indicated that they would "take note" of the so-called Copenhagen Accord.

Greenpeace wasn't the only group to stage a protest in Copenhagen this weekend. In fact, not all of the protests are even happening in Denmark!

Over the weekend, one of the most active and vocal climate action groups, 350.org, staged a series of 3000 vigils in 139 countries around the world. The purpose of the vigils was to reiterate to world leaders that we want a "real deal" in Copenhagen -- not just some "agreement to agree at some point" like we've been hearing about.

The video above shows some of the devastation already happening around the world because of climate change, and it has the heartstring-pulling music. Get ready for goosebumps and tissue-reaching.

Blame it on a public used to movies filled with gory and realistic CGI monsters, like the really scary skull headed dudes on horses in "Lord of the Rings." Yesterday Greenpeace did a protest reenactment of the Bible's biggest terror-mongers and harbingers of doom, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and it was just sort of ... meh. Not scary at all.

Four protesters with some amateurish face paint and costumes borrowed from the Eastville, PA, junior high wardrobe cabinet, don't make much of an impression on an average Monday, nevermind in the middle of Copenhagen when every activist is there with their "nudity/fake bloody polar bear/effigy of a world-leader-on-a-stick" A-game.

Which is a shame, because the Greenpeace message was actually pretty smart, and pretty scary.

A few weeks ago I was wandering down the incense-scented aisles of a green conference and stumbled upon the Earth Island Institute booth. They are an awesome group that helps individuals who have big ideas for saving the environment, but no money or structure to get the ball rolling.

David R. Brower founded Earth Island Institute in 1982. Brower is a legendary environmentalist who also founded a few other organizations you may know: the Sierra Club Foundation, Friends of the Earth, and the League of Conservation Voters. You could say he knew a thing or two about what it takes to turn a good idea into a movement.

All organizations, including environmental activists, need administrative support. The challenge for an individual or small group is that basic admin tasks can be incredibly costly and time-consuming, taking resources away from saving the planet, or some other noble deed. That's where Earth Island Institute comes in.

If you keep up with Climate Change gossip, then by now you've heard about the emails that were hacked from the computers of some leading climate scientists, and leaked to the world press by a group we can most easily refer to as "The Deniers".

The Deniers maintain that climate change is an elaborate hoax, or bad science, or a combination of the two. They are gleefully clapping and pointing at the substantial lack of professionalism (and in some cases outright jerkiness) in the email exchanges, which they consider "proof" that climate change is fake. Or at least less serious than the climate scientists "want" us to believe, in their apparent bid for the riches, power and willing women for which a career in climate science is so well known.

Because everyone agrees, being a climate scientist is like being James Bond with mystery, intrigue and dreamy locations like East Anglia, England.

Some of us think about Thanksgiving, and next think about football. Some of us think football first, then Thanksgiving. And some of us think, football, Thanksgiving, and then, "This is a good time to do nude anti-fur ad for PETA. With my wife!"

Ok, only one person, NFL star Tony Gonzalez, thinks that last one, but we all get to enjoy the result.

Tony, a tight end -- yes, the sexiest sounding football position! -- with the Atlanta Falcons, and his lovely life-partner, October, (yes, that's her name, not the month she was a centerfold ... I think ...) posed in the nude, sharing the now familiar sentiment that they'd rather be naked than wear fur.

Caution -- video is graphic, and you don't want kids to see this!

Holiday travel often means flying across the country, sometimes just for a day or two so that you can see family. But gone are the days of glamorous flights. Today it's expensive, uncomfortable, and a huge hassle to get through security.

Not to mention it's bad for the environment, right? Prepare to feel eco-guilt if you're flying this holiday season -- even if you did your TerraPass. The anti-flying group Plane Stupid made this video of polar bears falling from the sky to graphically demonstrate how much carbon is dumped into the atmosphere when you fly.

In case you miss the symbolism, the video ends with this:

If you are a dedicated recycler and composter like I am, you've probably experienced the maxi-green level of waste management guilt: plastic wrap remorse.

It's what happens to The Eco People when we remove all of the recyclables and food waste from our trash. The only things left are dirty ziplock bags that no one will ever convince me to wash our and reuse, and a bunch of the flexible plastic that covers things like paper towels and toilet paper. When waste is segregated like that, you get a very visual understanding of what you use, and how much you're sending to landfill.

Kimberly-Clark (fresh from their lovefest make-up with Greenpeace) is teaming with "upcycling" geniuses TerraCycle to save us from this guilt, and more importantly, to divert all of that plastic wrap away from a pit in the ground.