ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

November 4th 2008

Gavin Rossdale Plays Tennis for Charity

Filed under: contests, events, events: miami, sports — sara @ 11:56 am

If you think Gavin Rossdale is hot on stage (ever eye him like a piece of meat?), wait until you see these pics of him in tennis threads. Yum.

Over the weekend, Gavin was in Miami for the Chris Evert/ Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic to raise money to fight drug abuse, child abuse, and homelessness. Chris Evert is a charity rockstar who helps support wonderful organizations like Make-A-Wish Foundation, Women’s Sports Foundation, Save the Children and many more. 

Avid player Gavin was joined by fellow celebs Chevy Chase, Jim Courier, Greg Norman, Jon Lovitz, Mary Pierce and others who participated in The Classic — which has raised over $16 million for its sponsored charities in the past.

August 24th 2007

South Florida Finally Provides Biodiesel Option for Touring Bands

Filed under: events: miami, music, transport — rebecca @ 5:00 pm

Linkin Park’s summer tour Projekt Revolution is about to come to a close. I had a chance to stop in and check out their West Palm Beach leg of the tour recently and these guys rocked. And to tell you the truth, I probably enjoyed My Chemical Romance even more. Gerard Way was born to perform. But was the concert green?

Most of the green concepts that Projekt Revolution was planning on using were behind the scenes. Our friends over at Reverb set up biodiesel where ever possible along their route, and we were pleased to hook up our South Florida biodiesel buddies up with them! South Florida isn’t know for it’s “greenness”; that makes it particularly difficult for organizations like Reverb to find a supplier for biodiesel in our area. Sol Atlantic Biodiesel to the rescue! Our friends Lisa & Chris headed up to West Palm Beach to fill up 16 semi’s and 5 tour buses with B20 biodiesel.

First of all - wow - it takes a lot of trucks and buses to get this number of bands around the country. If you’re upset to see B20 (20% biodiesel), instead of B99, let me explain. The bus & truck companies haven’t completely come around on the biodiesel front yet. That’s all they’ll allow. However, each journey starts with a single step, right? Little by little, I think they’ll get there. It takes tours like this to get them accustomed to the idea of it.

As for the “visible” greening of the event, it was non-existent. Garbage cans everywhere. Recycling bins no where. Garbage cans didn’t even seem available on the lawn, where the general admission seating was located. And then, miraculously, as we were walking out the gates at the end of the concert, there they stood, a line of concert-workers armed with recycling bins. I doubt they worked, however…there were no trash cans to be found. That means that probably everything went into the bin, rendering the recycling function absolutely worthless.

Oh well. Though there could have been more “visible” green aspects, we’re happy to see Linkin Park and the rest of the bands touring with them try out different pieces of eco-friendly touring like biodiesel. And we’re very happy that when bands come down to South Florida, they now have an option to fill up with that liquid goodness.

July 31st 2007

Linkin Park, Projekt Revolution Tours Green

Filed under: contests, events: miami, music — rebecca @ 11:49 am

Green music tours continue, and finally, one is headed my way. Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution tour has incorporated several green elements. They’ve teamed up with non-profit organizations Music for Relief, Reverb, and American Forests to bring a little bit of eco-friendliness to each venue that they play.

Though biodiesel touring, carbon offsetting, and recycling at the music venues isn’t a totally new concept, we certainly haven’t seen much or any of it with serious rock groups such as these. Besides Linkin Park, the Projekt Revolution tour also features My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, and HIM, among many others.

Here in the south, however, we don’t get to see many of these green concerts. We’re kind of at the ends of the earth down here. That’s all about to change. On August 10, Projekt Revolution hits West Palm Beach. My other site, greenerMIAMI.com, is giving away a free pair of tickets…so if you are a South Florida green rocker, be sure to enter to win!

July 17th 2007

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Says Mother Nature is Neither Republican Nor Democrat

Filed under: events: miami, politics, transport — rebecca @ 11:38 am

Last week I attended Serve to Preserve: A Florida Summit on Global Climate Change, which was a state-wide eco-event held by Florida Governor Charlie Crist in Miami. At the end of the summit, our governor committed to some seriously cool things - hoping to make Florida much like California in terms of the environment.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave the keynote speech at lunch on the final day. The entire speech can be viewed here, but I captured some of the more entertaining bits which can be viewed below:

Click more to read the transcript. Read the rest of this entry »

February 7th 2007

Lucky Scarlett to Donate Luxury Condo to Charity

Filed under: donations, events: miami, green and famous — rebecca @ 12:34 pm

Seems like this star was lucky twice over the weekend at the Superbowl - Scarlett Johansson was seen at the celeb-heavy event with newly-single hottie Justin Timberlake, and was apparently given the shock of her life when she learned that she was holding on to the winning key for a year’s lease for a luxury condo worth $2.2 million at the swanky Flamingo South Beach resort in Florida. The svelte 22-year-old bested other big-name celebs for the draw, including Robert Downey Jr. and Adam Rodriguez of CSI: Miami fame.

But it seems that Scarlett is more than willing to part with her newly-won goods. “[W]e made a decision that day to donate it to a children’s organization,” her representative tells New York Daily News. “Possibly Miami Children’s Hospital, so visiting parents have a nice place to stay.” That’s sweet of Scarlett, isn’t it?

February 1st 2007

Super Bowl Brings Crowds & Benefits Charities

Filed under: events: miami, sports — rebecca @ 7:34 pm

The Super Bowl is in town - MY town, and though the press says that it’s going to be like Carnival in Rio here for the next few days, so far I haven’t been able to tell the difference. However the stars are out, whether we see them or not, and they have non-stop parties planned through the big night.

And though most of the Super Bowl phenomenon makes us think of lots of carbon emissions, there is actually a lot of good going around as well. First of all, the Super Bowl tries to offset their emissions by planting seedling trees and buying renewable energy credits through Sterling Planet. Additionally, any excess food from the various Super Bowl events will be recovered and donated to Daily Bread Food Bank. Finally, any materials that are left over or no longer needed after the event takes place such as office supplies, promotional items, or constuction materials will be given to non-profits for reuse or fundraising.

Then, of course, there are the many charity events that happen around the Super Bowl. Also addressing hunger issues is the Taste of the NFL dubbed a “party with a purpose.” The event provides funds for food banks in South Florida and across the US. For $500 you can enter and taste food and wine from top chefs that hail from each of the 31 NFL cities. You’ll probably meet some football players, too!

Also on Saturday, Magic Johnson will hold a celebrity poker tournament benefiting the Magic Johnson Foundation and the Starkey Hearing Foundation. (Photo credit: City of Miami)

Finally, there are lots of organizations and individuals that have auctioned off their Super Bowl tickets to benefit charity.

So we can have fun and save the world, right? Yes, I believe it’s definitely possible. The next step is to get the big celebs and their private parties on board. (Yes, I’m talking to you J. Lo & Marc, Jay-Z & Beyonce, and you too Playboy.)

December 8th 2006

Art Basel Miami Brings Celebrities, Benefits

Filed under: art, donations, events: miami — rebecca @ 10:18 am

Just in time for Miami’s Art Basel, Nicky Hilton will host the Gift a Lift for Paralysis benefit event on prestigious Star Island on Saturday. It’s a for what seems like a great local organization that helps children and adults with growth related disorders. It’s also the “first look” at Nicky’s highly anticipated and delayed hotel and condo, Nicky O. The delay, in fact, has caused Nicky to lose her rights to the key to the City…until the hotel opens - now scheduled for April 2007. She’ll donate 10% of condo sales that are made during the event to the Danielle DeMarzo Foundation. But you’ll have to pay the $1500 ticket price to get into the party before you can sign on the dotted line. But that will be no problem for Pamela Anderson, Gloria Estefan, and Shaquille O’Neal, who are already on the guest list for the benefit.

Art Basel brings lots of celebs into town, so Nicky shouldn’t have a hard time filling the chairs at this benefit. Lindsay Lohan, Al Gore’s buddy, won’t be in attendance, though. She’s got her own event at Mynt to deal with. There will be lots of famous faces in the art world, too. To help you recognize them, New York Magazine even published a cheat sheet to help you know who’s who when wandering around this weekend. Though I doubt you wouldn’t recognize Yoko Ono.