Convenient Truths: Exactly One Week Left to Enter

In seven days, the Treehugger and Seventh Generation Convenient Truths contest will stop accepting entries of user-created videos, and voting will begin at Treehugger. In other words, it's crunch time! Don't let the week get by you without shooting a video of your efforts to combat climate change, and getting a shot at the nearly $30,000 in prizes. Keep in mind that videos can only be 1-2 minutes in length, and shot with any kind of digital video recording equipment. If you've got a regular digital camera, you've probably got all the equipment you need to create a prize-winning video.

With only seven days until the end of the contest's entry period, you likely won't want to start any big projects to reduce your personal or household greenhouse gas emissions. That's all right, though -- there are many actions you can take that require only minutes or even seconds, and little to no money. Even the worst of procrastinators can get a number of these quick steps towards fighting climate change on video:

• Inflate your car's tires to the proper level. Time needed: 5 minutes. Equipment: a tire gauge and an air compressor. Potential savings: 250 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $840 per year.
• Lower your thermostat by 2 degrees (unless it's summer where you are -- then raise it by 2). Time needed: 2 seconds. Equipment: a finger. Potential savings: 2000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $98 per year.
• Put on a sweater when it's cold instead of turning up the thermostat. Time needed: 30 seconds (maybe 2 minutes if you have to think hard about which sweater). Equipment: a sweater... duh! Potential savings: 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $250 per year.
• Change or clean the AC and/or furnace filter. Time needed: 1-5 minutes. Equipment: a new furnace filter (unless you have a reusable one -- then, you just need water). Potential savings: 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $150 per year.

Now, wasn't that quick and easy? For other ways to lower your carbon footprint, and save yourself money on energy bills, visit StopGlobalWarming.org's Action page. You can also take a look at some of our previous contest posts for ideas.

We can't do everything for you, though -- you actually have to take these actions, record them, and upload the finished product to the Convenient Truths contest. Don't wait... times a' wastin'!