ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

May 13th 2008

Paul McCartney Is Pissed Over Carbon Enhanced Gift!!

Filed under: not green, products — parrish @ 11:27 am

When it comes to green celebrities there really are only 2 types. The first type is what I call the “real deals”. These are the stars like Ed Begley Jr., Brad Pitt, Rachel McAdams and so many more who really care about the planet and are driven, not by their desire to land on the front page, but by a global awareness that has nothing to do with their choice of career. The second type seem to be those environmental one-hit wonders who engage in green activities simply because it’s trendy or lucrative and usually last about - oh five seconds - before moving on to the next “cool” thing.

Paul McCartney is definitely the real deal! So you can imagine why he was so pissed when learning that his new eco-car was delivered by jet. The car in question is a brand new Lexus Hybrid Limousine and was given to Paul by the manufacturer to thank him for promoting green automobiles. The gesture was nice, but Lexus chose to fly the car from Japan to Britain, creating a carbon footprint almost 100 times bigger than the standard method of shipping.

A source told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper: “…he was horrified after learning it was delivered by plane. Paul has always campaigned for green issues and he can’t understand why anyone would send an enormous car from Japan to Britain on a plane. “

Now Ecorazzi has been quite friendly with Lexus and especially supportive of their generous sponsorship of green events. I,myself, have spent some time with their Marketing Director of National Advertising and fully believe that she and the company really do have the very best intentions. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t say this lapse of green judgement didn’t shake my confidence a little. Was this simply a foolish, isolated incident or is Lexus getting laxidasical with their green agenda? I guess only time will tell!

thanks: femalefirst.co.uk

May 12th 2008

Rapper DMX Arrested For Animal Cruelty And Drug Charges

Filed under: animals, not green — parrish @ 10:25 am

What the Michael Vick is going on, you guys? On Friday, rapper DMX was arrested at his home in Cave Creek, Arizona on four felony drug possession charges and seven misdemeanor animal cruelty charges.

DMX is no stranger to animal drama, having faced a 1999 animal cruelty charge in Teaneck, New Jersey, that was dismissed after the performer agreed to record a series of public service announcements for an animal rights group. 

Most recently, police seized 12 pit bulls and pit bulls mixes this past August after receiving a tip the animals were being abused.  Officials also discovered the carcasses of three dogs that were partially buried and concluded that one of the dogs may have been burned.  At the time no arrest was made because, while the dogs were underfed and lacking water, there was no sign of dog fighting. Um…what?

This time around DMX WAS arrested and five pit bull mix puppies were taken from the property.  County Attorney Andrew Thomas said the rapper’s celebrity status will not play a role in how the case is treated. “We are handling this case as we would any other incident of alleged animal cruelty,” Thomas said.

Of course this incident comes far too soon after the now infamous Michael Vick Dog-Fighting Extravaganza, and while I don’t much care for jumping to conclusions…it ain’t lookin too good!  Stay tuned Ecorazzi readers for more updates as we get them!

via: cnn.com

May 7th 2008

Lindsay Lohan Accused Of Stealing $11,000 Fur Coat!

Filed under: animals, fashion, green and famous, not green — parrish @ 9:51 am

Looks like Lindsay Lohan is knee deep in coat controversy after an $11,000 fur coat (gross) went missing from a New York City hotspot earlier this year.

Here’s the deal: Masha Markova (aka Cruella de Vil) owned this super posh, super cruel, $11,000 dollar blond mink coat. So Masha decided to wear it to a friend’s birthday party — because fur is soooooooo cool (written with the utmost sarcasm) — but when she went to retrieve her pelt of glory it had mysteriously vanished. Turns out Lindsay Lohan just happened to be at the same party and also just happened to be photographed later that evening wearing an $11,000 blond mink coat. Oops!

Anyway, Masha saw the pictures, was totally pissed and wanted bloody revenge, so she called her lawyer and threatened to take legal action. Long story short — all of a sudden the club called Markova and was all like, ” Oops sorry. Umm we have your coat if you want it back”, and returned it to her smelling of booze and cigarettes and with a tear in the lining, but offering no further explanation. So NOW Markova is REALLY pissed and is demanding Lohan pay her a $10,000…get this..”rental fee” for “borrowing” the coat.

Wait! First off, what the hell is Lindsay doing wearing fur anyway when just a couple months ago Ecorazzi spotted Lohan with an anti-fur button? Fur’s not a very flip-floppy issue, you’re either for it or against it. And yes it’s wrong to steal or “borrow” or “rent” without permission, but who spends $11,000 bucks on a fur coat and then charges a $10,000 rental fee? I’m sorry poor little miss thing lost her precious coat, but only a little sorry because she sounds like a tool and if you can’t already tell by my blatant editorial eye rolls…I THINK FUR SUCKS! In conclusion, it’s unfortunate that Lindsay’s back in fur, but hey, maybe she was trying to confiscate it for PETA. Anyone?

May 5th 2008

PETA Asks Will Ferrell To Give Up His Animal Wrestling Ways

Filed under: animals, campaigns, film-tv, movies, not green — parrish @ 11:04 am

Last week Ecorazzi told you that PETA was investigating the death of Stephan Miller, the 39-year-old animal trainer who was fatally attached by Rocky – the grizzly bear featured in Will Ferrell’s film, Semi-Pro. Now it looks like PETA’s going right to the source and asking Ferrell to stop using animals in all of his movies. 

In February, PETA sent a letter to Ferrell’s agents warning of both the dangers of working with wild animals and how many of these animals are cruelty treated, but the warning went ignored and now PETA is giving it a second go. PETA recently sent another letter to Ferrell and his camp stating, “We know you to be a compassionate person, and we are hoping that this deadly incident will make you have a change of heart about acting with animals in the future.”

Many celebrities are adamant about not working with animals, including Pamela Anderson who recently refused to shoot a scene with a trained Labrador.  Is Ferrell going to give up his animal wrestling ways? Only time will tell. Stay close Ecorazzi readers — we’ll keep you posted as the story unfolds. 

May 2nd 2008

Arnold Schwarzenegger Jet Commute Update!!

Filed under: not green, politics, travel — parrish @ 3:30 pm

Remember a couple months ago when Ecorazzi told you about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daily 380 mile jet commute to and from work? We took a poll and 77 percent of our readers said that Arnold needed to start walking the walk and give up the damn jet already. Well now it looks like he might just have no choice.

Santa Monica – the city Arnold flies into each day – is fighting to eliminate the landing of all jets in their small, local airport that was originally designed for propeller plains only. The ban would apply to jets that land at speeds of 120 knots (138 miles an hour) or faster which city leaders fear aren’t safe for some residents that live nearly 300 feet away. The FAA disagrees saying, “The airport’s 5,000-foot runway is safe and there’s never been a jet accident.”

This isn’t the first time the city of Santa Monica and the FAA have fought over the aiport and Santa Monica might even have plans to shut down the airport down entirely in 2015 when their contract with the FAA expires.  

True, if the ban passes Arnold would probably just take a helicopter to work instead of relocating or finding a more eco sensitive means of transportation, but at least jet traffic would decrease overall.  The judge is set to rule on May 15th, so stay close! We’ll bring you more information as we learn it!

thanks: bloomberg.com

May 1st 2008

Simon Cowell Voted Biggest Celebrity Polluter

Filed under: cars-houses, not green, transport — parrish @ 10:27 am

Yes, yes, in the past we’ve Simon props for his goodwill, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s any kind of green hero. In fact, whatcar.com recently made a top ten list of the biggest celebrity polluters and Mr. American Idol himself ranked numero uno on el listo. 

So now for your viewing pleasure…THE TOP 10 CELEBRITY SMOG PEDDLERS!!! Drum roll please!

1. Simon Cowell
Average carbon emissions 457g/km
Cars owned Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F430, Rolls-Royce Phantom

2. Jay Kay
Average carbon emissions 444g/km
Cars owned Bentley S1 Continental, Ferrari Enzo, Rolls-Royce Phantom

3. David Beckham
Average carbon emissions 421g/km
Cars owned Bentley Arnage, Bentley Continental GT, Hummer H2, Lamborghini Gallardo

4. Rowan Atkinson
Average carbon emissions 398 g/km
Cars owned Aston Martin DB7 Vantage, Audi A8, Bugatti Veyron

5. 50 Cent
Average carbon emissions 394.5g/km
Cars owned Hummer H2, Rolls-Royce Phantom

And that’s just the first five. If you want to see the rest then carpool on over to whatcar.com and prepare to scoff!

photocredit: splashnews.com

April 28th 2008

Paris Hilton And Britney Spears: Pet Owners From Hell!!

Filed under: animals, not green — parrish @ 2:07 pm

Owning a pet is awesome. Owning two pets is awesome. Owning three pets, while mabye a lot of responisbilty, it’s still very awesome…if you’ve got what it takes. But when celebs start owning more than they can handle what kind of message does it send to the rest of the world?

Author Karen Dawn poses that question in Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals, and in it accuses notorious party pals Britney Spears and Paris Hilton of being awful role models to young pet owners.

Dawn tells the New York Post, “We’ve already seen Paris go through dogs faster than mojitos, and I bet nobody warned Britney that California might soon force drivers to keep dogs safely restrained in vehicles - like babies. An impulse purchase of a companion for the next 15 years? … Nobody expects them to have the dogs much longer than 15 months.”

At one point Spears had a small collection of chihuahuas, and well, Ecorazzi has reported numerous times on Paris’ personsal farm.

Wanna know more?  Read more about it in Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals.

April 28th 2008

Sting And Trudi Admit They’re Hypocrites Over Their Carbon Footprint

Filed under: not green — michael @ 11:03 am

We’ve written several articles detailing Sting and his wife Trudi Styler’s less than stellar environmental record — even while they speak out over the dangers of climate change and CO2 emissions. This past week, the UK Daily Mail received some refreshing honesty on the issue from Trudi during a interview at the Earls Court Real Food Festival. From the article,

“Miss Styler tried to shift a little of the blame on to her musician husband, who is 56. ‘When it comes to the carbon footprint, Sting puts his hand up immediately and says ‘I’m a musician and I have a huge carbon-footprint’, she said. She then asked: ‘Are we being hypocritical?’ before seeming to answer the question herself. ‘He has a 750-person crew to bring around the world and it is a difficult challenge. I would like to think that we both work pretty hard for the rights of indigenous people and for the rights of conservation of the Amazon rainforest, but we do need to get around. It’s a difficult one.’”

Environmental experts recently rated Sting’s band, The Police, one of the dirtiest in the world as a result of the crazy amounts of pollution generated by the group on their latest world tour. Styler herself has also been criticized for her copious private jet and helicopter flights — as well as ridiculous antics like having her personal chef travel 100 miles to simply prepare a bowl of pasta.

This is one of those issues that George Clooney always avoids — saying one thing, but doing another. Clooney has time and time again admitted that he does not preach green as much as others, simply because he knows he isn’t the most environmentally responsible person out there. Sting and Trudi certainly do a good amount for certain charities and initiatives, but when it comes to talking sustainability, they really should jump down from the soapbox.

via dailymail

April 21st 2008

Paris Hilton Opens A Puppy Beauty Parlor

Filed under: animals, film-tv, not green, television — parrish @ 11:22 am

Paris Hilton loves animals, but not like in a productive, responsible, animals are great kinda way. No, Paris loves animals like Mary J. Blidge loves shoes: the more she has, the more she loves. In fact, at one point Paris reported that she had 600 pets in her various homes including a Rottweiler dog, a bobcat and a Lhasa Aspo. And who could forget the Paris Pet Store Controversy or the Paris Cat Collection Controversy or even the most recent Paris Puppy Palace Controversy? I think it’s probably safe to say that Paris loves animals like children love candy and likewise should be restricted to merely one or two.

However limitations make for bad TV, so instead, Paris Hilton will once again “prove” her love for man’s best friend by hosting UK satellite channel Living TV’s Paris’ Pooches. The premise is simple: a 26-year-old heiress (a.k.a Hilton) manages a beauty parlor for dogs in Bond Street, London.

A source revealed to Britain’s Daily Star Sunday newspaper: “The shop is perfect for Paris. It’s a subject she’s passionate about and it’s a way for her to break into UK TV.

I mean she’s already famous here, she has a best-seller, a fragrance, a clothing line…I guess UK television is really all that’s left. But if you want REALLY good ratings I say we invite her bobcat into the salon and just kinda see what happens! Yeah — that’s hot!

thanks:femalefirst.co.uk

April 17th 2008

Willem Dafoe Is Veggie No Mo!

Filed under: animals, not green, web — parrish @ 10:10 am

Actor Willem Dafoe is warning fans not to believe everything they read on the internet –especially reports stating that he is a vegetarian. Willem explains that he is often applauded for his vegetarian lifestyle even though he is no longer veg!

Dafoe explains, “I’m married to an Italian, it’s impossible… I guess I wasn’t committed enough to the ethical reasons. I’m not a card-carrying member.”

BOO!!! Well guys, we lost another and 20 dollars says vegan/vegetarian Spiderman co-star Tobey Maguire is pissed!

via: starpulse.com