Rock legend Sting has become the latest celebrity to sign on to Prince Charles’ Rainforests Project — and in celebration of its 30th Anniversary, he’s lending his iconic “Message in a Bottle” tune to the cause. “Thirty years ago, I wrote ‘Message in a Bottle,’” he says. “Today, I’m joining forces with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and many others supporting The Prince’s Rainforests Project to send an SOS to the world. Sending your SOS is easy, and can help create the climate for change. If there is one thing you do today, make it this.”

To coincide, Prince Charles has also released a new video urging support for the campaign ahead of the Copenhagen climate talks in December. “Rainforests are utterly essential in our fight against climate change,” he says. “They absorb nearly a fifth of all our carbon emissions and yet they are being destroyed at the rate of a football pitch every four seconds. To solve the problem, we have to find ways to ensure the trees become more valuable alive than dead so there is no incentive to cut them down.”

Check out Sting’s video below — which also includes a recap of the major players involved, and a thumping re-mixed live version of “Message in a Bottle”. All in all, not a bad way to start the morning.

Adventurer, ecologist, and activist, David de Rothschild is the latest celebrity to appear in a series of videos plugging Prince Charles’ Rainforests Project and encouraging people to become involved. “We’re getting to a period where there’s no turning back,” he says,” and the most important thing is our ability to live on this planet.” Check out the video below.

In other news, the Plastiki Expedition has received a slick new website that let’s you take a peek at how everything will work on the vessel. Conceived by de Rothschild a few years ago, the Plastiki is a 60-foot catamaran made from reclaimed plastic bottles. According to the site, the goal of the expedition is to “not only continue encouraging the world to focus on reducing, reusing and recycling more of its natural resources but ultimately to think smart by re-thinking waste as a resource.” The voyage is expected to kick off sometime later this year. Visit the website here – -and if you can swing it, hit the high-res version.

As we’ve previously stated in great detail, when it comes to the environment Prince Charles is pretty much on point. 

Most recently the Prince hosted a reception for the Marine Stewardship Council — an organization that works with fisheries, seafood companies, scientists, conservation groups and the public to promote the best environmental choice in seafood.

During the event, the Prince of Wales said:

“The science tells us very clearly that if we continue to fish without any care for the long term sustainability of fish stocks we will soon face a nightmare collapse in stocks and inevitable starvation amongst the world’s poorest people. So I think the debate about the marine environment is rather like that which surrounded climate change in the 1980s. Back then climate change was something about which a few people were trying very hard to make their voices heard, occasionally myself, but nobody wanted to listen. Over the years I’ve tried to make speeches and hold seminars and those things about the fishing problem, but again it has been very difficult to get the attention of all sorts of people, agencies, organizations and the consumer – the subject was quite literally out of sight and out of mind.”

While this might sound radical to some, I have a pretty good plan to end over fishing: stop eating fish. Yes, yes I know there are a lot of people out there who love their sushi, but taking a nice long break from seafood will give the ocean a chance to repopulate itself.  Plus, who needs all that mercury?! I’m just saying. 

via: looktothestars.org

Delivering a keynote lecture yesterday, Britain’s Prince Charles dropped an interesting fact on the infamous King Henry VIII.

“Henry instigated the very first piece of green legislation in this country,” Charles said. “In ordering the building of a great many ships, he effectively founded the Royal Navy. But there came a moment when Henry realised that creating his fleet was putting too much strain on the natural supply of wood, particularly oak.”

“And so, in 1543, he created a law, “the Preservation of Woods,” which stated that if any number of mature oak trees was cut down, twelve had to be left standing in the same acre, and none could be touched until each of them was of a certain maturity. It was a simple and rather elegant piece of long-term thinking.”

“What was instinctively understood by many in King Henry’s time was the importance of working with the grain of Nature to maintain the balance between keeping the Earth’s natural capital intact and sustaining humanity on its renewable income.”

You can read the full transcript of Charles’ speech here. If I see a plug for recycling on The Tudors, I’ll let you know.

Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Pele, Robin Williams, Prince William, Prince Harry, the Dalai Lama and others have teamed up with Prince Charles on a new video promoting conservation of the Rainforests. The 90-second clip features all of the participants standing next to — or holding — a computer-animated frog. “Our aim, with your help, is to build an online community to call, from the bottom up, for urgent action to protect the rainforests, without which we will most certainly lose the battle against catastrophic climate change,” Prince Charles said. Check out the official site here — and watch the video below:

Prince Charles is tearing a page out of Al Gore’s green book with a one-two punch book and documentary warning of the negative impact big businesses are having on the environment. The 60-year-old royal is calling the project “Harmony” and has waived his usual author’s fee in favor of royalties going towards his charity.

The prince said: “I believe that true sustainability depends fundamentally upon us shifting our perception and widening our focus, so that we understand, again, that we have a sacred duty of stewardship of the natural order of things. In some of our actions we now behave as if we were masters of nature and, in others, as mere bystanders. If we could rediscover that sense of harmony – that sense of being a part of, rather than apart from nature, we would perhaps be less likely to see the world as some sort of gigantic production system, capable of ever-increasing outputs for our benefit – at no cost.”

Charles will team up with former director of green charity Friends of the Earth Tony Juniper to help create the book and film. Publisher HarperCollins says the prince’s book will argue humans have become dangerously disconnected from nature through their relentless pursuit of economic growth and technological progress. It’s expected to draw on Charles’ experience as an organic farmer, with scenes in the documentary to be filmed on his Highgrove estate.

Elizabeth Hurley

The unlikely pair have announced that they’re joining forces to launch a new range of “modern, healthy organic food”. Hurley will supply organic meat from her 400-acre farm for the Prince’s sustainable food brand Duchy Originals. The 43-year-old actress-turned-farmer has already found success selling her humanely-raised beef, pork, and lamb to leading chefs and farmers markets around the UK. Her association with the Royals will do even more to expand her fledgling empire.

“His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is an inspiration to me because of his passionate belief in organic food and farming and his unwavering commitment to help protect and sustain the countryside,” Hurley said. “I feel honoured to be working with Duchy Originals and am extremely excited about the products we are developing together.”

As one would expect, Hurley has come under fire from animal rights groups for promoting the meat scene. Last July, PETA sent her a letter urging her “to allow the piglets, calves and lambs on your land to live out their natural lives in comfort and safety” and join the organization in “promoting a healthy vegetarian diet.” Guess we know what her answer to that request is.

Look for the new food range to launch shortly.

Speaking to over 150 business leaders in Rio de Janeiro, Prince Charles laid down a warning that time is running out to save the planet. “The best projections tell us that we have less than 100 months to alter our behavior before we risk catastrophic climate change and the unimaginable horrors that this would bring,” he said.

“Any difficulties which the world faces today will be nothing compared to the full effects which global warming will have on the worldwide economy,” he added. “It will result in vast movements of people escaping either flooding or droughts, in uncertain production of foods and lack of water and, of course, increasing social instability and potential conflict. It will affect the well-being of every man, woman and child on our planet.”

The Prince then went on to say that only sustainable development — especially in light of the current economic crisis — is the best path for humanity. “Doesn’t the global crisis in which we find ourselves tell us that sustainable development will be, indeed can only be, the primary driver of economic and industrial development in the future?”

Sure to dampen his mood further, Charles and Camilla will head to the rainforest tomorrow to see the impact of humans on the region. Hopefully, he won’t be ambushed by pissed-off monkeys.

Put down your afternoon tea…we have PRINCE CHARLES DRAMA!!

In the past, Ecorazzi has been pretty damn vigilant in showcasing all of the royal dude’s environmental initiatives. However, Charleseecakes is in hot water with some environmentalists over his latest project to help save our precious planet.

Charles will be embarking on a non-stop tour through South America next month as part of his crusade to battle global warming. To meet the demands of the 40 appearances he will make in just 10 days — Charles has decided to make the 16,400 mile trip in a luxurious private jet. 

While the entire tour’s emissions will be “offset,” the total price tag for the jaunt will be around $431,900 and release 322 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Oh, jeez! 

What do you think Ecorazzi readers? Should the Prince ditch his pimped out ride for something more energy-conservative, or is the goal of the mission worth pumping out all the CO2 into the atmosphere? Chime in and share your thoughts!! 

via: greendaily.com

Prince Charles

The new products will be available early next year and “reflects the prince’s passion for adopting an integrated approach to healthcare.” As a bonus, all of the profits from the sales of the remedies will directly benefit the Prince’s Charities Foundation.

On the flip, Charles is being criticized for sending his two prized pigs to Italy to be butchered — a trip of almost 1,000 miles. Obviously, this goes against his whole “carbon neutral” lifestyle commitment. Were there no butchers in the UK that could have assisted? I’m not denying the good that the Prince has done on behalf of the environment, but its kind of a forehead-smack moment. Guy obviously likes his bacon.

Photo credit: INF photo