ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

April 6th 2008

Universal Studios Hollywood Gets Green With Earth Day Eco-Fair

Filed under: events, events: bay area, green and famous, thegreenpicture — parrish @ 1:16 pm

Can you feel it in the air? Earth Day is soon approaching and the green celebrations are popping up all over the place. If you live in New York it’s a no brainer…the Go Green Expo is the place to be. But what about all the eco-heads on the West Coast? Must they celebrate all by themselves? I DON’T FRIGIN THINK SO!!!

Universal Studios Hollywood is throwing an “Eco-Fair” on Saturday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fair will feature over 30 “green” displays, including a “hands-on” lesson from the folks at Bell’s Bugs on the vital impact reptiles and insects have on the environment, and a booth from La Knitterie Parisienne where you can pick up some organic knitting yarn made from soy, hemp, bamboo and corn.

Also, make sure to bring your recycled, soy-based ink marker because The Office star Melora Hardin and Lauren Koslow from Days Of Our Lives will be autographing eco-friendly bags and passing out energy efficient light bulbs.

Finally, in the spirit of Earth Day, Universal Studios Hollywood will offer free parking for hybrid vehicles, or for people who donate at least one product to the hazardous waste disposal drive sponsored by the City and County of Los Angeles. SEXY!!!

To find out more visit the Universal Studios website and get your Earth Day green on.

March 28th 2008

San Francisco’s ‘Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival’ Gets SUPER GREEN!

Filed under: events, events: bay area, green and famous, music, thegreenpicture — parrish @ 1:52 pm

Solve this math problem: take a dozen or so musicians, add one super green city and multiply it all by three days of good old fashion summer fun. What did you get? If you came up with the Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival then you’ve got it right! 2 gold stars!

The first ever Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival will be held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on August 22-24 and will feature some of today’s hottest musicians. So far the roster includes: Beck, Wilco, Widespread Panic, Primus, Radiohead, Tom Petty, Jack Johnson Manu Chao, Ben Harper, Steve Winwood, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Drive-By Truckers, Cafe Tacuba, Devendra Banhart, Regina Spektor, Cold War Kids, and Nellie McKay.

OLMAF is taking it a step further by making the event as green as possible. First off, when you buy your tickets you’ll be given the option of donating $3 to the National Arbor Day Foundation to help reforest California. Or if you’d rather, you could donate $3 to help ‘green’ your ticket. These donations will be used to purchase (and then retire) pollution credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange. Once you’ve got your slot, leave that car at home and take advantage of the complimentary bike valet service. Yes, you heard me…bike valet!

The festival itself is like green heaven with almost all the products on sale being either recyclable or compostable. You can also win prizes just for recycling! The Outside Lands Recycling Store will be stocked with items you can “buy” with your used bottles and cans as currency. And finally don’t forget to bring your old cell phone to be refurbished and redistributed throughout other countries. Once you’ve done all your good deeds for the day you can sit back and relax in front of a fully solar-powered stage and watch your favorite musicians rock away!

Sounds like an event you HAVE TO BE AT? Tickets are $225.50 (plus fees) for all three days and go on sale March 30th. So scoot on over to sfoutsidelands.com to learn more and get your green on!

January 11th 2008

Dick Van Patten Plays Cards For Man’s Best Friend

Filed under: animals, events, events: bay area, honors — parrish @ 12:06 pm

Do you know what’s even better than a nice game of poker? A nice game of poker that benefits a bunch of sweet ass animal shelters!

On January 12th, Dick Van Patten will join forces with PETCO and Van Patten’s own dog-food company, Natural Balance, to host his annual Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament in Palm Springs, CA.  A lifetime animal advocate, Van Patten will distribute the money raised from this event to various animal charities and rescue organizations throughout the USA. 

If you’re like me, you might know Van Patten as the dad in Eight Is Enough, but he’s actually had a huge career, including 600 radio shows, 27 Broadway plays, 7 television series and 30 feature films. And it’s because of his work in the entrainment field that Van Patten’s is being honored with the 301st Celebrity Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on the same day as the fundraiser. So to honor the man with the plan, I’ve written him a little congratulatory poem:

On January 12^th Dick Will Play

5 Card Stud with his buds in C.A

So skip gamblers anonymous

Cause this game you won’t wanna miss

And ante up to help those that are stray 

Jeez, I should have been a frigin poet!

December 22nd 2007

Gorgeous and Glamorously Green in San Francisco

Filed under: events: bay area, food & drink, green and famous — michael @ 10:14 am

This post comes to us from contributing field reporter, Amy Fritz.

Once again Global Green and the ecofabulous Zem Zoquin and Nadine Weil hosted San Francisco’s most glamorous green event, Gorgeous & Green, attended by some of Hollywood’s most beautiful and eco-conscious. Unlike events of late hosting “Green Hollywood” without heart, this event also had substance. Woven around a presentation of the impactful work Global Green is doing across the country, we heard from Stephen Jenkins (looking sexier than ever) talking passionately about politics and his latest efforts to further green his biodiesel tour bus and the equally hunky Jason Lewis sharing with us that he only buys green and organic products and is always looking for ways further green his life.

Both Stephen and Jason lambasted critics who say that the rocking green movement and continuing involvement by Hollywood’s A-list is a passing fad. Jason, says “That’s just stupid. With increasing awareness and more opportunities as individuals to live more sustainably without sacrifice, there is no going back. Stephen says “those critics will some day soon be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves. For the true leaders,”—like his favorite presidential candidate, Barack Obama—”instead of being fearful of change, rather see opportunities, especially in industries like Clean Tech and greening our lives and businesses”.

The main event was an inspiring and sustainable catwalk lead by the gorgeous and green, Josie Maran. Josie shared how she was inspired to create her pure luxury cosmetic line. “I spent long hours in make-up chairs and when I was made aware of the amount of toxins in cosmetics, I was horrified.” Josie Maran’s cosmetic line and other fine organic beauty lines adored by Hollywood, such as Duchess Marden and Jane Iredele, were distributed to the who’s who crowd of SF A-listers and eco leaders in the regal, yet LEED certified, Bently Reserve.

The fashion show featured fantastic looks from luxury green designers Behar Shapar, Del Forte Jeans, Lara Miller and Linda Loudermilk, among others.

Other celebrity guests in attendance included Jason Behr, Michelle Branch and Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco.

Photo credit: Stefanie Michejda

November 27th 2007

Dicaprio, Bloom and Bosworth: An Organic Schmorgesborg

Filed under: events, events: bay area, food & drink, green and famous — parrish @ 12:18 pm

Are you celebrity obsessed? Down with eco-snazzy living? If you answered yes to both of those questions then don’t miss this event!! Global Green is having their third annual Gorgeous And Green party in sunny San Francisco on December 18^th, 2007. This soiree sounds moy excellente, boasting such impressive amenities as an organic cocktail bar, VIP lounges (yes, plural) and Eco-Spa Treatments, all under one cozy, LEED certified, environmentalist roof.

Celebrity partygoers attending in the past have included Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, Kate Bosworth, Orlando Bloom and other “surprise” guests. Will you be among them this year? Tickets are still available and if you’re ready to drop a pretty penny in the name of mama earth, then grab that organic granola, jump in your biodiesel, solar powered car and head on over to The Global Green website to reserve your place among those elite Hollywood A-Listers. Because after all, the best pairing for a glass of primo, biodynamic wine is some snuggle space next to a primo, biodynamic celebrity. Oh yeah, and tell them I’m still waiting for my VIP invitation. It must have gotten lost in the mail.

September 11th 2007

Save the Date: San Francisco Green Shopping Event!

Filed under: events: bay area, fashion, shopping — kelli @ 10:27 am

Get ready, Bay Area green shoppers! Thursday, September 27th is your lucky day to find all your favorite eco-friendly designers under one roof for the biggest eco-shopping event yet!

The Eco-Chic Shopping Event, Appel and Frank’s newest, greenest shopping night to date, features tons of cutting-edge must-haves from new green designers like Hiroko Kurihara , as well as the favorites we continue to love including Del Forte denim and Anna Cohen.

If you can take just a moments break from scouring the racks for the best in green fashion, grab yourself something to sip while you shop- they’ll have both all-natural cocktails from Sake2Me (bring your id, ladies and gentlemen!) and Ritual Roasters organic coffee on hand!

And if you’ve arrived at this not-to-miss event looking, um, amiss…they’ve got you covered for that, too! Head over to the complimentary beauty bars for a little pick-me up makeover by Brown Bag Botanicals, Amea, and San Francisco’s KamalaSpa.

Admission is $10, and a portion of the door proceeds will go to Friends of the Urban Forest. For more information, or to buy advance tickets, check out Appel and Frank.

Kelli Shields is an Ecorazzi contributor and is a community organizer with the Center for Biological Diversity.

July 7th 2007

Live Earth Rocks San Francisco

Filed under: events: bay area, festivals, music — kelli @ 9:59 am

If you can’t get to one of the Live Earth concerts in person (and I know you wouldn’t even THINK of flying or driving solo), fear not. Not only will the shows be broadcast live all day today via internet, television, and satellite radio, but you can also meet up with friends to check them out at one of more than 7,000 viewing parties across the globe.

If you’re in San Francisco, you’re in luck - Calfornia’s largest Live Earth viewing party will be at Jillian’s Video Cafe inside the Sony Metreon, 101 4th Street at Howard from 11:00 A.M.- 7:00 P.M.

The San Francisco Friends of Live Earth viewing party will be the place for hip, eco-conscious gals and guys to mingle with environmental leaders, Bay Area celebrities (hello? Sean Penn? Robin Williams? Will you be there?), and politicians ( World’s Most Gorgeous Mayor, Gavin Newsom, I just KNOW you’ll be there!!!)- watch live as the Police, Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, Shakira, Madonna, and hundreds more take the stage in concerts for a climate in crisis.

Event sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Mother Jones, Sound Action, Friends of the Urban Forest, and many more. For more information, go to www.friendsofliveearth.org.

May 13th 2007

San Francisco KaBoom Goes Carbon Neutral

Filed under: events: bay area — paige @ 6:45 pm

San Francisco’s annual KFOG KaBoom fireworks extravaganza is yet another event that has jumped on the carbon neutral bandwagon. While one would not expect  fireworks to be considered environmentally friendly, this year’s event took unique measures to ensure itself green. From compostable forks and spoons to food vendors providing used cooking oil for Marin resident Elon Rosenfeld’s Straight Vegetable Oil Mercedes, this event proved that going green is always in a state of innovation. An estimated 40,000 people flocked to the San Francisco waterfront with many people embracing the special event hours of BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). Blues protogee Kenny Wayne Shepherd and latin hi-hop band Ozomatli joined the poster child of carbon neutral - Guster, who are now known by their biodiesel tour bus and performances that are powered by wind power.

Reporting on carbon neutral events is nothing new here at Ecorazzi. So when what would normally be new news turns into old news, it is actually a postitive sign that carbon neutral and going green is offically mainstream, and that is cause for a fireworks celebration of its own!

December 15th 2006

Ecorazzi Quickies

Filed under: events: bay area, green and famous, television — rebecca @ 12:27 pm

* Summer says that the rumor going around about Bono’s Edun closing was just that. We’ll say it as clearly as possible. Edun is NOT closing.

* Vegan Keri Jean also attended the Global Green party this week, and wasn’t impressed. Find out why. I would be upset if Leo didn’t come down from the VIP lounge, too. But that’s not all…

* Rachel McAdams & Ryan Gosling attended CurrentTV’s “Seeds of Tolerance” Award Ceremony last night. The “Seeds of Tolerance” contest wound up inspiring some incredible pods on diversity to be produced for Current. The grand prize winner received $100,000 cash plus an additional $15,000 to go to the charity of their choice. The event was hosted by Current TV founder, Al Gore. Looks like the Lohan also showed up. And Rachel, in honor of this event, I’m going to tolerate your hair. (I *heart* The Notebook!)

* Oprah is going into reality TV. Looks like she enjoyed this whole Pay it Forward program she put together a while back. The concept will now become a show of it’s own. “‘Oprah Winfrey’s The Big Give,’ has an eight-episode order from ABC. Skein follows a group of 10 people who will be handed money and resources — and then challenged to find dramatic and emotional ways to use the coin to help others.”