Last year I met Julie Sulik, the development director for Friends Association for Children, a non-profit working to safeguard and nurture the dreams of underprivileged youth in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia.

Earth Day has come and Earth Day has gone, but still we are standing on this orb scratching our heads and wondering what to do to save her.  

Hillary Clinton's last minute ad not only used images of Osama Bin Laden and Pearl Harbor, but of long gas lines in the 1970's. Being president is the "toughest job in the world," and whomever we elect must be brave and ready. It would also appear winning the presidency means ignoring inconvenient truths, or at least only discussing them when it's popular and politically expedient.

Now that gas prices are hovering around $4 a gallon, many drivers are becoming more aware of their need to cut their gas costs. And with Earth Day upon us, we've been bombarded by messages telling us to make greener choices to help save our planet.

The BlogHer contributing editors have been blogging Earth Day all month and doing a really good job of it - and so have the members of our community. If you haven't checked out any of their green friendly, environment friendly posts - you should click into the Green & Eco-Conscious topic area and start reading (comments are cool, too!)

For better or worse, it's probably a safe bet that with Earth Day falling on the same day as the Pennsylvania presidential primary, April 22, the candidates are a little more focused on Pa. than on Mother Earth. For today, I'll let it go.

Last week, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Anna Lappé. I felt a personal connection to the subject matter of food, politics and the environment as BlogHer's resident troublemaking vegan :) We had a great conversation that covered everything from teen rebellion to ranking the importance of all those food-related buzzwords: organic, local, season, plant-centered. I had fun, but I also felt like we talked about a lot of ways BlogHer members, who live in environs from urban to rural, can eat more healthfully...for themselves and the planet. Take a listen!

It is endlessly fascinating to me that the same children who will dig a salad dressing bottle out of the trash and scold me for forgetting to recycle it are often unable to turn off the light in a room when they're done. I mean, I would never have guessed these qualities to coexist in a reasonably bright child, but I am here to tell you that it's not only possible, it's pervasive.

When it comes to makeup, I am equal parts minimalist and junkie; I want the appearance of perfect skin, every day, with as little effort and as few products as possible. I am also torn between wanting to use only cosmetics that are healthy and safe and really really wanting my mascara to last all day without flaking or smudging.

I became a vegetarian almost 20 years ago, and when I did Diet For a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé was one of those bibles you kept by your side. It wasn't just inspiring, but a practical guide to leading a healthy vegetarian lifestyle.Decades later Moore's daughter, author and activist Anna Lappé, carries on this tradition of activism that is both inspiring and dedicated to helping people make a difference via personal action. I'm thrilled to be conducting an exclusive podcast interview with Anna next week as part of our ongoing Earth Day is Every Day coverage this month. Our interview with Anna will coincide with a launch of an entirely new project that I'm also going to ask her about, and I'm also going to ask Anna about these three main goals in her work:

Hey, it's Earth Month, have you heard? Thank goodness we only have to think about the little rock we cling to that sustains our lives for one month out of the year. In May we can move on to my favorite, Asteroid Belt Month.

I'm not trying to be provocative with that headline, I truly am curious about how people feel about this. Let me start by confessing that buying organic foods isn't always my number one priority when I'm deciding what to cook, so don't think I'm claiming to be any kind of expert. In fact, when BlogHer Community Manager Denise asked me if I'd write about organic food for BlogHer's Every Day is Earth Day spotlight, I wasn't sure I wanted to, until I thought about what a great learning opportunity it would be for me.