ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

May 12th 2008

Razzi Snap: Scientist Names New Spider In Honor Of Rocker Neil Young

Filed under: animals, campaigns, donations, politics — michael @ 2:27 pm

Neil Young has been immortalized as the official name of a newly discovered species of spider, Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi. The honor was bestowed by Jason Bond, a biologist at East Carolina University. “I really enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice,” he said. Jason’s wife, who apparently isn’t cool enough to be immortalized as an eight-legged critter, had no comment. [via livescience]

Whitney Houston sang a rare live gig for the Caudwell Children’s Ball last week amidst the swirling rumors that she was paid anywhere from six to seven figures for the act. If it’s true, we think it’s BS that she would take so much cash to perform for a children’s charity. [via the cheers]

Ever wonder what an Al Gore presidency might have been like instead of the disaster that was the current administration? Sure, Saturday Night Live did a hysterical take, but the Huffington Post’s Norman McAfee really lays it all out for us. January ‘09 can’t come soon enough. [via Huffington Post]

Victoria Beckham is hoping some actual good will come out the toxic disaster that was the Spice Girls World Tour by auctioning off the swanky outfits she wore on stage. Posh expects almost $2 million dollars to be raised from the various auctions — with all the proceeds benefiting her children’s charity. [via sunday mirror]

May 9th 2008

Razzi Snap: Jessica Alba Shows Off Her Green Nursery

Filed under: babies and bumps, cars-houses, healthy living, interviews, transport — michael @ 11:06 am

We’ve pretty much reached the saturation point in covering Jessica Alba’s green nursery plans. But just to cap it all off (and kudos to the media for promoting her eco-ambitions), Celebrity Baby Blog have posted a full scan from US Weekly of Alba’s completed baby room. They also have a nice list of almost everything inside and where to buy it. Her baby girl is due late May/early June. [Check it here…]

Al Gore is once again under attack with claims that he’s pushing forward an “alarmist agenda” after he spoke on NPR’s Fresh Air. In the interview, Gore included the recent devastating Myanmar Cyclone in a list of current natural events that may be linked to Global Warming. The way media outlets like FOX and others have spun it, however, it sounds like he singled out only Myanmar as proof of climate change. You be the judge — have a listen to the radio clip here. [Part in question happens about the 27:20 mark]

Attention Celebrities! The next-generation Toyota Prius will be unveiled at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show in January of next year. It’s expected to be a bit larger, but have lower emissions than the previous model and a few more MPGs. With a barrel of oil now trading above $125, this can’t come soon enough. [Read more…]

Actress Laura Dern recently hired Green Life Guru, a Los Angeles–based environmental-services company, to evaluate the eco-fitness of her house. She was advised on solar paneling and water filtration — but realized greening the home-front just wasn’t enough. Now, she and a bunch of other parents are working with the company to help eliminate chemical-ridden carpeting and pesticides at their children’s school and introduce composting and recycling programs. Groovy. [via TIME]

May 5th 2008

The Green Quote: Christina Ricci Is Embarrassed Of Her Car

Filed under: cars-houses, transport — michael @ 3:15 pm

“Well, I live in Los Angeles so that’s a lot of driving right there. I had a sports car once - a Porsche 911. It was pretty awesome. I loved that car, but now I have a regular sedan. “I’m actually ashamed to tell you what car I have now, to be honest. (a Mercedes S-class sedan) I got into a long lease before I saw the Al Gore movie [An Inconvenient Truth] so now I’m embarrassed. But my lease has to be up before I can buy a proper environmental car.”

–Actress Christina Ricci in a recent interview with with the Times Online.

May 2nd 2008

If May Is “Pregnancy Awareness Month”, What Does That Make August?

Filed under: babies and bumps — tracy @ 9:19 am

Ed note: This post comes to us from our new west coast contributor, the fabulous Tracy Metro. Check out her awesome website here.

Green heiress and holistic expert, Anna Getty, has apparently deemed May Pregnancy Awareness Month (PAM) since it’s the month most often associated with mothers and fertility… I mean… Mother’s Day DOES fall in this month, after all! To kick it off on May 1st, Anna hosted a laid-back PAM shindig in honor of mothers and expecting mothers at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. I was there and was happy to see quite a few eco-minded celebrity moms (and even a few dads) in attendance.

Fresh out of the stirrups toting along 7 week old son, Braden, Melissa Joan Hart told the Razz that her drug-free birth was made possible with the help of hypno-birthing classes. However, she said “natural childbirth isn’t right for everyone.” Hart may make no judgments on how you get the kid out… but I’d like to ask that to a few woman as they are actually pushing an 11 lb bowling ball through their vajayjays.

The very sexy Brooke Burke credits her trés hot post-pregnancy body to her very own line of belly wraps, called Baboosh Baby. Apparently, everyone around the world wraps their bellies after pregnancy except US mommies. Brook says “it’s an age old concept” that wasn’t being represented in the US, so she started the line in 2007.

Diane Farr, expectant mommy of twins and star of NUMB3RS, shared with the Razz that before she purchases her next car to tote around the impending brood, she and Dr Paul Song (Lisa Ling’s husband) are trying to figure out how much radiation is emitted from hybrid car batteries. Oy, as if I wasn’t paranoid enough! My husband and I each have a Prius, so she better find out soon!

Keep reading to see photos and find out who else showed up!

Read the rest of this entry »

April 26th 2008

Al Gore And Live Earth To Rock College Campuses This Fall

Filed under: music — michael @ 9:53 am

Get ready for another massive concert series from Live Earth. This time, however, the focus will be on the United States — and getting people to rock the vote by making the environment one the main issues for the 2008 Presidential Election.

At the gala celebration for the Go Green Expo last night, Live Earth founder Kevin Wall let drop that the organization is finalizing plans to hold simultaneous concerts on college campuses around the U.S. on October 5th. Mirroring similar sentiments around the green community, Wall expressed disappointment that environmental issues were not more present in the various presidential debates and interviews over the past year. As a result, the organization has decided to thrust the issue once more into the spotlight by getting people to “rock the green vote”.

Prior to the event, Live Earth will invite the Democratic and Republican nominee to clarify their positions on such issues as climate change, renewable energy, and other green issues. As it’s still early, we have no information on what bands will be participating — or even the campuses participating. Kevin Wall did answer one question, however. Will Al Gore be back? “Absolutely,” he responded

April 24th 2008

Americans Choose Oprah Winfrey To Share Their Coffee With

Filed under: campaigns, food & drink — parrish @ 2:36 pm

If you could have your morning cup of coffee with either Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, Laura Bush, Bill Gates, Al Gore or Brad Pitt who would you choose?

If you picked Oprah you got it right! Well at least that’s what the majority of America said when asked by the Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of Millstone Fair Trade Coffee. In fact, out of the 746 adult coffee drinkers polled, 20 percent picked Oprah while Bill Gates came in second with 16 percent and Laura Bush third with 15 percent. Brad Pitt on the other hand only got a shabby 7 percent. Umm..I think maybe the coffee drinkers had other activities in mind for Brad.

Millstone also found that while 52 percent of people said they were aware of Fair Trade certification, only about half of those (44 percent) were able to really explain it.

How would you do on the Fair Trade test? If you think you’re missing a few genius points, visit TransFairUsa.com and bone up. And when you’re done, hit Millstone Fair Trade Coffee and reward yourself for all that hard work.

April 24th 2008

The Green Quote: Al Gore Turns Down Obama’s Cabinet Offer

Filed under: politics — michael @ 2:05 pm

“I don’t intend to be a part of any administration. I’ve been Vice President, I ran for President twice, so I don’t have any interest in being a cabinet member. I think my best use is in building grassroots support. I will, of course, give advice to whoever asks me for advice on this and will work to help, but not in a formal way.”

– Al Gore in a recent interview with The Sun

April 22nd 2008

Julia Roberts Shows Off Her Mad Composting Skills On Oprah

Filed under: events, film-tv, green and famous, healthy living, television, thegreenpicture — parrish @ 10:52 am

Julia Roberts is celebrating Earth Day today by showing off her mad compost skills on Oprah. The Oscar winning actress/super green mom will talk about buying organic, how to clean your fruits and veggies, and yes, also about making that perfect little compost heap.

Other Earth Day Oprah guests include green guru and author of Gorgeously Green Sophie Uliano, greener than you might even realize actress Sandra Bullock and the man with the plan Al Gore.

So for an afternoon of pure greenage, put on your green pj’s, get some green snackage and tune into Oprah! Happy Earth Day Ecorazzi readers!

April 21st 2008

Gore Confirms Sequel To An Inconvenient Truth In The Works

Filed under: green and famous — michael @ 2:05 pm

We’ve long speculated that there would be, but now The Sun is quoting Al Gore as saying that a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth is going to happen. Who’s ready to start waiting in line right now? From the article

“The former US Vice President said: ‘I will make a sequel to the 2006 documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and despite earths ‘rising fever’, I am hopeful for a happy ending”. However, he admitted that the situation had instead got worse since his documentary hit cinemas in 2006. Gore said: ‘I have to say the situation has not improved since I made the movie in 2006. Sure, awareness has grown and more people are concerned since scientists said we had just ten years to take action to halt rising sea levels,’ was quoted as saying by The Sun.”

Gore’s first documentary was a critical and box-office success — with some crediting the film for seriously increasing the momentum of today’s environmental movement. The former VP’s fears, however, are justified as a recent Gallup poll showed only 1/3 of Americans are concerned about climate change — the same number as measured 19 years ago!

Will Gore’s next film on the topic draw people into the theaters for another dose of climate change education? Or should he stick to other methods for informing people? What do you think?

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April 18th 2008

Nancy Pelosi And Newt Gingrich Come Together To Fight Climate Change

Filed under: green and famous — michael @ 3:31 pm

For the second in its series of videos titled “Unlikely Alliances”, the $300 million dollar WE initiative (sponsored by Al Gore’s Alliance For Climate Protection) has brought together Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

In the ad, Pelosi and Gingrich admit they don’t always see eye-to-eye, but believe the country must put aside its political difference and come together to fight climate change. How that happens, however, still remains a difference between the two politicians. As the SFGate reports, Pelosi supports a “mandatory cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions, while Gingrich would rather use tax credits and other incentives to get industry to switch to low-carbon technologies.”

Said Cathy Zoi, CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection, “By bringing together top Republicans and Democrats, we are demonstrating both to the American public and to lawmakers that we can and must overcome partisan differences to solve the climate crisis.”

Check out the ad below.