Today is Earth Day…an annual celebration devoted to appreciating nature and learning about ways to protect the environment. Earth Day was first started in 1970 in San Francisco, CA, but today more than 100 countries around the world join together to celebrate the Earth and its precious resources.

Earth Day is a great day to take a moment and reflect about your own lifestyle and what kind of impact it may be having on the Earth and the environment. Some people call this an “ecological footprint.” Don’t know where you stand? Take this quiz to find out how much of an “ecological footprint” you’re leaving on the earth.

While it’s great to be environmentally aware every day, here are some ways to be extra conscientious in celebrating Earth Day this year:

• Plant a tree! Trees help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so every tree planted helps out the atmosphere
• See if you can go through one day without throwing away or using anything that isn’t recyclable. Use cloth napkins instead of paper, and don’t use disposal plastic like cups or silverware
• Make a commitment to being more environmentally conscious
• Rent An Inconvenient Truth on DVD or read the newly released version of the for young adults
• Eat only local grown and/or organic food

For more ideas on things you can do everyday to help protect the earth, read this previous Smart Girls Know entry on global warming.

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I had the chance to interview young environmentalist Severn Cullis-Suzuki for my book, In Their Shoes. When I asked if she had any advice for teen girls who are interested in being a part of environmental change, she had this to say:

“More than ever right now we need female voices, so don’t be afraid to speak out. I think that one of the most important roles that youth can play is to raise all hell about what is happening to our future. I mean, what’s happening today and the decisions that are going down and the lifestyles we are now living is really degrading the quality of life that we’re going to have. We have everything to lose, so we have to bring attention to this. Who else is going to?”

What a whirlwind of a week! It’s been 10 days since my book In Their Shoes officially said hello to the world, and things around here have been nonstop ever since. I’m busily getting ready for my swanky book release party this Monday night at the coolest bookstore around, Elliot Bay Book Co. in Seattle. And I just found out that I’ll be a guest on the CW’s morning news show, The Daily Buzz, in May. But more on that later!

I wanted to give a shout out to some great organizations who are supporting the book in really cool ways:

Back Stage Magazine (and their online zine) is the main mag for anyone interested in acting, and offers career resources, advicing for dealing with agents and casting directors, interviews with and articles about important people in the biz, and notices for auditions. Back Stage recently featured a special promo highlighting actor Maura Tierney’s (ER, News Radio, Liar, Liar) profile in In Their Shoes, and ran a special contest giving away 50 copies of the book. Thanks Back Stage!

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Interested in being a teacher? The website TeachersCount is definitely worth checking out. Here you’ll find a whole section dedicated to people who want to teach, including info on why it’s such a great career and details about scholarship opportunities. TeachersCount is promoting In Their Shoes at the upcoming NYSUT teaching conference in Washington, D.C. on April 25 – 27. Thank you TeachersCount!

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And check out Smart Girls Rock, an online community for girls who will be the next scientists, astronauts, doctors, mathematicians and engineers who will change our world — and a community for the women who cheer our smart girls on. Smart Girls Rock recently posted an interview with me about In Their Shoes, and offered a limited number of copies as a giveaway to girls who joined in the online conversation about careers. There may still be copies left, so stop by the site!

What a whirlwind of a week! It’s been 10 days since my book In Their Shoes officially said hello to the world, and things around here have been nonstop ever since. I’m busily getting ready for my swanky book release party this Monday night at the coolest bookstore around, Elliot Bay Book Co. in Seattle. And I just found out that I’ll be a guest on the CW’s morning news show, The Daily Buzz, in May. But more on that later!

I wanted to give a shout out to some great organizations who are supporting the book in really cool ways:

Back Stage Magazine (and their online zine) is the main mag for anyone interested in acting, and offers career resources, advicing for dealing with agents and casting directors, interviews with and articles about important people in the biz, and notices for auditions. Back Stage recently featured a special promo highlighting actor Maura Tierney’s (ER, News Radio, Liar, Liar) profile in In Their Shoes, and ran a special contest giving away 50 copies of the book. Thanks Back Stage!

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Interested in being a teacher? The website TeachersCount is definitely worth checking out. Here you’ll find a whole section dedicated to people who want to teach, including info on why it’s such a great career and details about scholarship opportunities. TeachersCount is promoting In Their Shoes at the upcoming NYSUT teaching conference in Washington, D.C. on April 25 – 27. Thank you TeachersCount!

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And check out Smart Girls Rock, an online community for girls who will be the next scientists, astronauts, doctors, mathematicians and engineers who will change our world — and a community for the women who cheer our smart girls on. Smart Girls Rock recently posted an interview with me about In Their Shoes, and offered a limited number of copies as a giveaway to girls who joined in the online conversation about careers. There may still be copies left, so stop by the site!

Samsung Fresh-Films, the teen-friendly film organization that co-founded Girls in the Directors Chair, has just kicked off their 2007 National Teen Filmmaking Program. If you’ve got an interest in filmmaking, then this is one competition worth checking out. Here are the vital stats:

Eligible ages: 14 – 19

Application requirements: completed entry form, including 100 words or less on why you want to be part of a film crew and a sample film idea (visit www.fresh-films.com to submit your application)

Deadline: May 7th

Fresh-Films will choose 99 teens (out of about 6,000 applicants) from across the country to participate in the program for free. During a week-long filmmaking experience, teens will be on-set as part of a teen crew directing, shooting and editing a film in either LA, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Detroit, Dallas, Atlanta and Kansas City.

The Fresh-Films program began in 2003, and has produced more than 60 films which have been screened at 20 film festivals worldwide.

There is so much pressure these days to do it all – ace the test, win the game, be voted homecoming queen, score well on the SATs, find the right summer job, get into the right college. Oh, and did I mention that while achieving all of these things, society seems to think that girls should look great, have a positive attitude, and handle it all in style?

What’s worse, many of us have the feeling that we have to do and be these things alone…no help required. Somehow we’ve gotten it drilled into our heads that asking for help is a sign of weakness…that admitting we need help would be admitting we’re not perfect – and that admission is just not acceptable.

Well, I say it’s time to bust that myth.

Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness at all…it’s a sign of strength. So pick up the phone, send out an email blast, grab a bullhorn, and get to it! Here are some tips for asking for and getting the help you need:

* Come clean and admit that you need help: They say admitting you have a problem is the first step to “recovery,” and the same goes with reaching out for help. You know when you’re in over your head: you feel stressed, you lose sleep, you have trouble concentrating…you might crack at any moment. When you feel this way, do yourself a huge favor and remember that you are not alone. Someone (or maybe many people) in your life would love to help you if they knew that you needed it and they knew what to do.

* Know that asking for help is okay: Once you’ve admitted you need help, try to feel secure in the fact that asking for help is the smart thing to do. People do it every day…CEOs of multimillion dollar companies, famous celebs, world leaders, your mentors. Getting help from someone not only eases your load, but the input from someone else might give you new and inspired ways to approach your situation.

* Be specific about what you need: If you can figure out exactly what it is that would take the pressure off of you, then by all means, ask for it! If you need to ask your brother to swap kitchen clean up duty for a week or you’d love your mentor to look over your college essay before you stick a stamp on it, then just say so. Often times people would love to help, but just don’t know what it is they can do.

* Practice accepting help when people offer it: When people say to you, “Is there anything I can do to help?” don’t assume they’re just saying that to be polite. Instead, assume that they genuinely want to help you, and answer with a big, resounding YES! Many of us seem to have it programmed in our fiber to automatically respond to an offer for help by saying “No thanks, I’ve got it.” You’ll find that the more you accept offers of help, the easier it gets.

* Know that the helper gets something out of it, too: Don’t you feel good about yourself when you’ve pitched in and helped someone who really needed it? If you’ve ever volunteered, then you’ve probably experienced this good vibe a lot. When someone’s help is accepted, it makes them feel as if they’ve made a difference and that their contribution is appreciated. So how about that…they feel good, you feel good… it’s all good!

If you have an interest in filmmaking but don’t know where to start, check out Girls in the Directors Chair. The program was started in 2004 when a production company started a teen filmmaking program called Fresh Films. After two years of working with teens to create cool films (even a few that were screened at major film festivals), Fresh Films teamed up with Stayfree to create Girls in the Directors Chair to “give girls a chance to reach their creative dreams.”

Through the program, teen girls replace the pros by working together to conceive, shoot, and edit a short film. While Fresh Films works with boys and girls, Stayfree wanted to focus on girls only once they heard that just 16% of creative positions in the film indusry are held by females.

This year, Girls in the Directors Chair received more than 1,500 entries, and 20 girls were chosen to be on two crews of ten to help create two original short films. One will feature actress Rachael Leigh Cook, and the other will star actress Laura Prepon.

Rachael Leigh Cook says, “People don’t realize that women behind the scenes are a minority in the filmmaking business,” says Rachael Leigh Cook. “Of the 45 directors I have worked with throughout film, television and voiceover projects only six have been women. That statistic is a pretty accurate representation of the current men to women director ratio in the film business. It’s way out of balance. I’m thrilled to be involved with Girls in the Directors Chair, which is working to change that reality.”

If you’re between the ages of 14 and 19, you can visit Girls in the Directors Chair online and fill out an application form, which includes a 100-word essay and presenting an original idea you have for a short film. If you’re selected to participate in the program, you’ll join other girls from around the country to be on the crew for a seven-day film shoot and production, all expenses paid.

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I interviewed a number of incredible women behind the director’s chair in writing my book In Their Shoes, including Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, Screenwriter and director Susannah Grant (wrote Erin Brockovich and many more), and Movie studio executive Alli Shearmur, and I was definitely impressed at the fact that these women were making it work in such a male-dominated industry.

Shonda Rhimes is the first black woman to create a TV show for network television, while Alli Shearmur is one of only a handful of women studio executives to become the top production executive for a major studio. Susannah has worked hard to become one of the most successful screenwriters working in Hollywood today, and recently got to sit in her own director’s chair to direct her film Catch & Release. Their individual stories are very different, yet they all share a common thread of being passionate about their love of the genre and their motivation to work hard to make their dreams come true.

Hopefully the success of women like Shonda, Susannah and Alli, along with programs like Girls in the Director’s Chair, will encourage more girls to pursue careers in the creative arts. The world could certainly benefit with more creative output coming from the perspective of empowered and passionate women!

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Here are some other programs for teens interested in filmmaking:

• Reel Grrls (Seattle, WA
• Femme Film Texas’ Summer Film Camp for Girls (Austin, TX)
• Reel Works (Brooklyn, NY)
• School of Cinema and Performing Arts Teen Filmmaking Camp (New York, Los Angeles)
• New York Film Academy Summer Camps (New York)

Yippee! Yahoo!!! My new book, In Their Shoes: Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers, officially comes out TODAY!

Check out my revamped website for In Their Shoes, where you can:

* download an original interview with internationally acclaimed photographer Amanda Koster to your iPod
* flip through Olympic volleyball player Holly McPeak’s profile
* read my diary of the writing and publishing process of the book
* send a career dream question to me to answer on Smart Girls Know

Thanks for all of your support and enthusiam along the way, and I hope you like the book!!

Love & Peace,

Debbie

Yippee! Yahoo!!! My new book, In Their Shoes: Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers, officially comes out TODAY!

Check out my revamped website for In Their Shoes, where you can:

* download an original interview with internationally acclaimed photographer Amanda Koster to your iPod
* flip through Olympic volleyball player Holly McPeak’s profile
* read my diary of the writing and publishing process of the book
* send a career dream question to me to answer on Smart Girls Know

Thanks for all of your support and enthusiam along the way, and I hope you like the book!!

Love & Peace,

Debbie

Who says daydreaming is a bad thing? If it weren’t for daydreaming…

* Ellen Richards wouldn’t have become the first woman admitted to the prestigious university, MIT, and later become the first female professional chemist in the US in 1873

* Novelist Edith Wharton might not have been the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921

* Amelia Earhart wouldn’t have been the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone in 1932

* Sandra Day O’Connor probably wouldn’t have become the first woman Justice of the Supreme Court in 1981

* Sally Ride definitely would not have been the first female to travel to outer space in 1983

* Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t be serving her term as the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007

If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that if you don’t dream it, you won’t do it. So why not start dreaming big now? Here are some ways to jumpstart your own daydreaming:

• Read biographies of incredible women like the ones listed above. Reading about how each woman defied the odds to make her mark will give you a burst of inspiration and the confirmation that “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

• Keep a dream journal. Write down every dream and idea you have about the things you’d like to do, who you want to be, and where you see yourself going. Most importantly, don’t censor yourself! There is no dream that isn’t worth dreaming!

• Set clear and concrete goals. Goals don’t have to be exact or really detailed, but be clear in stating what you’d like to do! (For more on goal setting, see this Smart Girls Know post about Career Dreams.)

• Visualize what you want. Try to picture yourself doing the things you dream of someday. The clearer the picture in your head of your dreams, the more likely they are to become a reality.

• Create a dream collage. Use pictures from magazines, keepsakes, drawings, text…whatever, and create a collage on a big piece of paper that represents the things you dream of having or achieving in the future. When you’re done, keep your collage in a visible place so you always remember what you’re working towards.

• Keep a scrapbook of your accomplishments. There’s nothing like keeping reminders of past successes and proud moments to remind you of your ability to achieve, especially during bouts of insecurity or doubt about where you’re headed.

• Spend time daydreaming! Don’t forget to set aside time to dream big…whether you do it while hiking and connecting with nature, going for a jog with your iPod or laying in bed staring at the ceiling. Reflect and ponder the possibilities.

Who says daydreaming is a bad thing? If it weren’t for daydreaming…

* Ellen Richards wouldn’t have become the first woman admitted to the prestigious university, MIT, and later become the first female professional chemist in the US in 1873

* Novelist Edith Wharton might not have been the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921

* Amelia Earhart wouldn’t have been the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone in 1932

* Sandra Day O’Connor probably wouldn’t have become the first woman Justice of the Supreme Court in 1981

* Sally Ride definitely would not have been the first female to travel to outer space in 1983

* Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t be serving her term as the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007

If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that if you don’t dream it, you won’t do it. So why not start dreaming big now? Here are some ways to jumpstart your own daydreaming:

• Read biographies of incredible women like the ones listed above. Reading about how each woman defied the odds to make her mark will give you a burst of inspiration and the confirmation that “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

• Keep a dream journal. Write down every dream and idea you have about the things you’d like to do, who you want to be, and where you see yourself going. Most importantly, don’t censor yourself! There is no dream that isn’t worth dreaming!

• Set clear and concrete goals. Goals don’t have to be exact or really detailed, but be clear in stating what you’d like to do! (For more on goal setting, see this Smart Girls Know post about Career Dreams.)

• Visualize what you want. Try to picture yourself doing the things you dream of someday. The clearer the picture in your head of your dreams, the more likely they are to become a reality.

• Create a dream collage. Use pictures from magazines, keepsakes, drawings, text…whatever, and create a collage on a big piece of paper that represents the things you dream of having or achieving in the future. When you’re done, keep your collage in a visible place so you always remember what you’re working towards.

• Keep a scrapbook of your accomplishments. There’s nothing like keeping reminders of past successes and proud moments to remind you of your ability to achieve, especially during bouts of insecurity or doubt about where you’re headed.

• Spend time daydreaming! Don’t forget to set aside time to dream big…whether you do it while hiking and connecting with nature, going for a jog with your iPod or laying in bed staring at the ceiling. Reflect and ponder the possibilities.