Organizers for the Jane Goodall Institue Awards ceremony last week probably should have paid closer attention to the type of vehicle actor Pierce Brosnan arrived in. After all, the former James Bond was being honored that night for his commitment to environmental education — so why have him arrive in a Lincoln Town Car Limo? For his part, Brosnan says he drives a hydrogen-powered BMW H7 at home — but couldn’t anyone have borrowed a Prius or something for the event? [Read more...]

In a recent interview, Ellen Degeneres what her favorite part of Las Vegas is. Her response? “Well, the buffet…I’m vegan so I’ll just have salad,” she joked. “But still, it’s still a bargain.” [Read more...]

The new green-themed Bond flick, Quantum of Solace raked in an impressive $27 million on its opening day on Friday. For comparison, 2006’s Casino Royale only managed $14 million. Eco-villains are truly in vogue. [Read more...]

Singers KT Tunstall and Vanessa Carlton are joining a crew of other celebrities and scientists on a trip to the Arctic Circle. The trip is on behalf of climate awareness charity Cape Farewell — which is hoping the artists are inspired creatively by the opportunity to work side-by-side with oceanographers and researchers studying climate change. A spokesperson for the charity tells People.com, “It has been organized for several months. We are hoping that KT will be able to blog while she is on the trip.”

Tunstall was recently married on a remote Scottish Isle and is using the expedition as the first part of her honeymoon with new husband Luke Bullen.

According to DoSomething, Vanessa Carlton is planning on throwing a green bash in her NYC apartment in anticipation of the nine-day trip. All of the napkins, cups, and other accessories will either be biodegradable or or made with recycled paper. Guests include Moby, Martha Wainwright, Feist and many other greenies.

Stay tuned to see how this trip impacts the participants. No doubt, we’ll have a bevy of good quotes after everyone returns.

KT Tunstall

On reducing her impact in hotels:

I don’t let housekeeping in when I stay in hotels. It cuts down on all the caustic cleaning products and aggressive water usage, and I never use the little plastic bottles of toiletries they set out. I try to take everything I might need when I travel to cut down on my consumption and I just use my own products until I run out.

On the beauty of the Maldives:

I visited the Maldives on my first fancy holiday three years ago when I first had success and really needed to lie down for a week! I fell in love with it. What was incredible about the Maldives was that the entire island we were on consisted of sand. There didn’t seem to be any dirt. You could walk around for hours barefoot with your white trousers skimming the ground, and they’d still be pristine white.

According to National Geographic Adventure, the Maldives are currently suffering from climate change and rising sea levels. “Already 12 islands have been mostly abandoned and their residents moved to Malé, (around which multi-million dollar protective barriers, called ‘tetrapods,’ have been erected).”

Enjoy it while you can, KT! To check out Ecorazzi’s interview with the singer, click here.

“I am writing to ask for your help in changing the way that KFC’s suppliers raise and kill chickens for KFC restaurants. PETA is asking KFC to implement what the company’s own animal welfare advisors have recommended – a document these advisors put together hat spells out what KFC needs to do. KFC, however, has ignored their recommendations, and five of the advisors have now resigned.”

I am asking for you to use your position as a KFC store manager to help eliminate the worst abuses of chickens, such as live scalding in defeathering tanks and drugging chickens to grow so quickly that they become crippled under their own weight. One of KFC’s advisors of more than three years, Dr Ian Duncan, who is North America’s leading expert on chicken welfare, writes: “The primary breeding companies have been genetically selecting birds for fast growth so intensively that the bones and joints of some birds do not form properly and the birds end up lame.”

Of slaughter, he writes: “One of the biggest welfare problems comes at the end of birds’ lives … any birds that have not been properly stunned or cut are still alive and conscious when they go into the scald tank – and this must be agonizing for them. … Fortunately, a new method for killing birds has been developed in Europe that overcomes all these problems. It’s called controlled atmosphere killing and involves placing the birds, still in their transport crates, into a tunnel that has a very low oxygen level. The birds sink into unconsciousness very peacefully and are dead within 1 minute.”

I am joining with PETA in asking KFC to take the following actions:

• Adopt the “Animal Care Standards” program, which would lower the levels of ammonia in the air of factory farms, improve the living spaces and lighting in chicken sheds, prohibit the intentional starving of breeding birds and ensure that birds are provided with mental and physical stimulation.

• Switch to controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), which would also improve conditions for workers and decrease contamination levels in the chickens’ flesh.

• Switch to mechanised chicken gathering. This would drastically reduce the number of broken bones and painful bruising that birds endure when thrown into transport crates.

• Breed for health rather than rapid growth, and stop feeding drugs to chickens.

• Make all welfare standards transparent and verifiable, ensuring that the animal welfare program is being adhered to through announced and unannounced independent audits.

As a KFC manager, you can help make positive changes for chickens by letting Yum! UK Managing Director Martin Shuker know that you don’t want to sell (and customers don’t want to eat) chickens who have been crippled, abused and scalded to death. Please watch the enclosed video, and review the detailed information at PETA.org.uk. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

KT Tunstall

via Hippyshopper

So in the spirit of el verde Billboard Magazine has dedicated their entire March issue to all things green, including a list of the top 10 greenest musicians. Billboard says, “The Top 10 green musician activists from the past year were chosen by overall positive impact on the environment; the extent to which the artist integrates a green approach into all aspects of his/her career; perceived sacrifice of choices; and trailblazing nature/originality of ideas.”

Wanna know the Top 10? Drumroll please!

In order from last to first they are: 10. The Roots 9. Missy Higgins 8. Radiohead 7. Serj Tankian 6. Pearl Jam 5. K.T Tunstall 4. Dave Matthews Band 2. Mana 2. Willie Nelson 1. Jack Johnson

Bands were praised for everything from their choice to eat local and organic to fueling tour buses with biodiesel and raising money for eco-worthy causes. Also included in the issue are stories on the touring industry (from green merch to green venues), green instruments, green festivals and tons more.

Billboard’s Green Issue is on sale now, but if you just can’t wait to get your hands on a copy you can visit their website and get an online preview NOW!!!

thanks: seattlepi.com

The artist, whose latest album Drastic Fantastic was released in September, is a constant advocate for the environment and regularly perform gigs that benefit green organizations. This summer, she’ll play two concerts in forests in the UK as part of a music series organized by the Forestry Commission. The gigs will help support environmental and social programs. Her new recording studio also mimics sustainable values by incorporating 100% reclaimed wood, sheep’s wool insulation, and solar panels.

Tunstall will also be kicking off her first 18-stop U.S. tour starting in May. Much like Jack Johnson, we can expect biodiesel buses, offsets, alternative energy sources, and plenty of educational and donation opportunities for fans. To check out Ecorazzi’s interview with KT, click here.

Her full tour details are available after the fold.

May 2008
3 – San Diego, CA – Spreckels Theatre
4 – Santa Barbara, CA – Marjorie Luke Theatre
5 – Los Angeles, CA – Wiltern Theatre
7 – San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theatre
9 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
10 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre
11 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
14 – Minneapolis, MN – State Theatre
15 – Madison, WI – Barrymore
16 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre
17 – Ann Arbor, MN – Power Center
19 – Louisville, KY – Brown Theatre
20 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
21 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room
23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Music Hall
24, 25 – Toronto, Ontario – Music Hall
27 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre
28, 29 – New York, NY – Town Hall

Click here to purchase tickets.

What’s better than a room full of 20 supermodels? A room full of 20 supermodels in eco-friendly clothes…DUH!!!

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is teaming up with the fashion industry for their, “Pick Your Cotton Carefully” campaign, which is aimed to help clean up the cotton business. Shockingly, six of the seven largest cotton producers have been accused of using child labor in their fields and often pay the children no more than 2 dollars a day for backbreaking work. So to help fight the good fight, designers like Luella Bartley, Christian Lacroix, Betty Jackson and Katharine Hamnett have created some stylish eco-wear produced on organic and fairly traded cotton with all the proceeds going to the EJF.

Furthermore, 20 supermodels have offered to help support the “Pick Your Cotton Carefully’ campaign by being photographed in the exclusive t-shirts by super talented fashion photographer, Eric Guillemain. We all know a little star power can help boost a campaign (see: Barack Obama) and in the past the EJF has been supported by such stars as: Lily Cole, Erin O’Connor and KT Tunstall (our girl).

SOOOOOO, run, walk or dance to ejfoundation.org to learn about the campaign, view the pictures, and buy a t-shirt or two. FYI: I wear a size medium.

E: You are a pretty famous green gal: you rock hard and live with sustainability in mind. What is the main motivation in both?

KT: Well now tell me, what’s the point of having a band and not rocking hard? NO POINT!! For me, the tradition of rock and roll is about living the life of a nomad, having what you need in a guitar and a bag, and it’s a great way to live. It’s a lot more inspiring than piles of inflammable stuff.

E: You have said in other interviews that being from a physically beautiful place makes being “green” that much more important to you. Where are you from and how did that inform your childhood and ecological outlook?

KT: I grew up on a craggy Scottish coastline that’s crumbling into the wild North Sea. When I went down to London, people would say, “woooo, it’s windy today.” And I would think, “come on, I don’t see any trees on the floor.” To me, nature is an obviously omnipotent force with the upper hand, and we are guests. As long as we are graceful, appreciative lodgers, the earth remains healthy and wondrous. We are trashing the guest house, and it feels wrong.

E: My favorite green activity is walking around my apartment naked in the summer, to cut down on my energy use and the AC bill. What is your favorite green tip/activity and why?

KT: I also love walking around my house naked. I also highly recommend sharing a bath, hitting yourself on the head with a ladle if you need to boil the kettle twice, and turning your heating down by 2 degrees.

E: What is your favorite tree, insect, and car?

KT: The Californian Redwood. The Bee. A vintage Porsche…or a souped up Brazilian copy of a 60’s split screen VW camper. But I don’t own a car or a camper van as it wouldn’t make sense.

E: Would you rather date an unabashed Hummer Driver, an Oil Executive, or an Elephant Tusk Dealer?

KT: They can all go and have a reality tv orgy with George Bush whilst being force-fed the prospects of Polar Bears once the Alaskan wilderness has been ruined by greed.

E: Just kidding about the last, but what is the sexiest eco-friendly thing you’ve ever seen a man do? (I for one get very hot to trot when a man rides a bike to work, with a brief case and his suit leg rolled up to avoid the spokes).

KT: Oh yeah, I was totally kidding too. Sexy good stuff when you see a guy recycling his rubbish. It should be the new singles meeting place; the anti-dump.