We love celebrities! Even more, we love celebrities who use their fame to bring attention to good causes, like dolphins, clean water, solar power and animal rights.
Like any popularity contest, our favorite celebrities change over time. And some of them we love more than others, because really, all of that advocacy can get just a bit strident at times.
Wondering who's eco-star is rising, and who is falling out of favor? Here's our take on the top 5 Eco-Friendly stars for 2010, and the celebrities from whom they're stealing the titles!
30 Rock's Katrina Bowden and Judah Friedlander, Photo: Rob Loud, Getty Images
This New Year's Eve, the world famous dropping ball (I'll do my best not to make puberty jokes) in Times Square will be powered by people who can't afford a gym membership ... as well as a few celebrities who stopped by for a photo-op.
Anyone who wants to donate a few extra calories is welcome to drop by the Smart Power Lab, located at 1540 Broadway from now until 3PM on New Year's Eve. Think of it as a free spin class.
Olivia Newton-John and her husband, John Easterling, recently sat down with GreenDaily to talk about their passion for the environment (Newton-John was a former ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program).
They told us about what they'll be stuffing stockings with this year, and their work in the Amazon to preserve the biodiversity of the vast rainforest through empowering local populations and sustainably sourcing everything from the energizing drink, Zamu to all natural beauty products offered by Easterling's Amazon Herb Company.
Tony and October Gonzalez go naked for PETA/Photo: PETA.org
Some of us think about Thanksgiving, and next think about football. Some of us think football first, then Thanksgiving. And some of us think, football, Thanksgiving, and then, "This is a good time to do nude anti-fur ad for PETA. With my wife!"
Ok, only one person, NFL star Tony Gonzalez, thinks that last one, but we all get to enjoy the result.
Tony, a tight end -- yes, the sexiest sounding football position! -- with the Atlanta Falcons, and his lovely life-partner, October, (yes, that's her name, not the month she was a centerfold ... I think ...) posed in the nude, sharing the now familiar sentiment that they'd rather be naked than wear fur.
I love Green Week on NBC because it means I'll get to see Alpha Green Al Gore be brilliant and funny!
Mr Greenius reprised his role as himself on "30 Rock", helping Kenneth change light bulbs and then super-hero-ing off to save some whales, making a joke about recycling everything, including jokes. Tee-hee -- admit it, you laughed.
Then he took the deadpan funny up a notch on SNL -- yes, SNL was funny this week! And much of the credit goes to the Nobel prize- and Academy Award-winning former vice president. Big Al killed!
"I've always thought that it would be great to have Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner by candlelight," she tell us. "I mean, if everyone lit their home by candlelight for just one hour, that's saving a lot of energy!"
And that's not all: "Plus, it provides such great atmosphere, don't you think?" she says.
We couldn't agree more. In fact, we're planning on snagging this idea for ourselves. Hey, dining like a celebrity and doing what's right for the environment? Sign us up!
Have you always dreamed of costarring in a film or video with an animated partner, like Paula Abdul and that dancing cat in "Opposites Attract"? And do you have a message for the world about saving the rainforest? If so, The Prince's Rainforest can help you achieve both of these dreams.
HRH Charles, the Prince of Wales, created The Prince's Rainforest Project to simply raise awareness of the connection between deforestation and climate change. The campaign has a frog mascot who appeared in a video with Prince Charles, as well as Princes William and Harry, Daniel Craig, Pele, Harrison Ford, and perhaps inevitably, Robin Williams.
One of the coolest things about the campaign is that you can make your own video, with the frog, urging world leaders to take bold action to address climate change at Copenhagen. It's hard to imagine that world leaders haven't heard this message yet, with all of the activism going on practically every day, but if anything will catch the attention of the last few resisters, I'm betting the frog is it.
You already know Edward Norton is a darn cool guy. After all, who else could have made "The Hulk" even greener? But now, he's doing more than just speaking out. He's even going beyond putting his money where his mouth is. Norton is running a marathon!
Though he might have occasional super powers on-screen, it turns out that, when it comes to running, he's just like everybody else and is experiencing common running ailments. But there's no way he'll quit -- he's running for a cause.
Norton is running the New York Marathon to benefit Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, an organization that seeks to protect the ecosystem in the area with which he became acquainted with 10 years ago on a trip to Kenya. His 30-person team is an eclectic mix of celebrities (Alanis Morrisette, David Blaine) and Maasai warriors (some of whom are still deciding whether to run in shoes or sandals.
If you're a "Living With Ed" die hard, you already know that Ed's green living show was picked up by Planet Green for another exciting and environmentally-friendly season. With the premiere already locked and loaded for October 21st at 9PM EST (that's tomorrow!), I was lucky enough to catch up with Ed for a few minutes to chat about the upcoming season, as well as Ed's green living philosophy.
GD: I heard a rumor that you guys are undergoing some major home renovations. Can you tell us whether or not you'll achieve your dream of living completely off the grid this year?
EB: No, I still can't do it. There's a good side of the problem; there's a lot of shading on my roof. I can never get fully off the grid unless I built a second story because of the shade from my neighbors' houses. But the shade actually keeps the heat off the roof, so that's good.
I've got our energy bill down to about 300 or 400 bucks a year. Now that we have three people in the house and I'm putting about 10,000 miles on my electric car doing speeches, the demand is higher than what it used to be. Even on the grid, the power I've got at my house is completely renewable. For only three cents extra per kilowatt hour, I buy power that comes completely from renewable sources through the LA power grid.
Oceana is another organization working hard to save sharks. They're also supporting the legislation and working with "Mad Men's" January Jones, one of the faces of a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of protecting and restoring the shark populations.
Sometimes it's easy to forget just what a dirty, messy, polluting process it is to get crude oil out of the ground so we can turn it into fuel. That's because most of the pollution takes place "somewhere else" -- in another country, in another part of the world.
The indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Amazon don't have that luxury. As we see in "CRUDE", a new documentary from award-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger, the rainforest where they live has been polluted across an area the size of Rhode Island in an effort to extract black gold. It's an environmental disaster referred to in the film as being thirty times more devastating than the Exxon Valdez spill.
"CRUDE" is the story of the $27 billion-dollar, multi-year environmental lawsuit brought against Texaco -- now owned by Chevron -- on behalf of 30,000 rainforest dwellers. Berlinger shows both sides of the story, which is by turns sad, outrageous and inspiring, but never preachy. The filmmaker leaves conclusions up to you.
Former President Clinton and President Obama. Credit: Jim Watson for Getty Images
It's a big week in New York City! Yesterday we had Hugh Jackman kicking off Climate Week NY°C. Today marks the start of the fifth annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting, which will focus on urgent global issues. Finance and climate will be at the top of the focus list, which also includes education and health.
The meeting is a who's-who of global leaders. President Obama is addressing the opening session, and more than 60 current and former Heads of State will attend alongside Hilary Clinton, Kofi Annan and Al Gore. The CEOs of major corporations like General Electric, Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, and JP Morgan Chase will also be there.
And what green-global-minded gathering is complete without celebrities like Demi Moore, Matt Damon and Barbra Streisand? Oddly enough, Pam Anderson and PETA are not on the invitee list, but you know Angelina Jolie totally plans to crash -- she wouldn't miss an event like this!
Hugh Jackman, Sexiest Man Alive. Credit: Junko Kimura for Getty Images
The UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) is less than three months away. This week in New York City, government and business leaders from around the world are gathering for meetings and events to demonstrate their support for strong action on climate change at COP15: Climate Week NY°C.
I think seeing Hugh Jackman is reason enough to show up, but for the more strictly climate-issue-minded, there will be a dizzying array of NY°C events from which to choose, including:
Summer is over, vacations finished, and it's back to the daily drudgery of working long weeks -- but PETA has a little something special to get your weekend off to a bangin' start: Pam Anderson as a sexy TSA agent!
Yeah. Like at the airport! Only instead of keeping people from sneaking on bombs, or box cutters, Pammie keeps them from bringing fur or leather on board.
The campaign is called "Cruelty Doesn't Fly", and wow, it took some serious nerve to launch it so close to the anniversary of September 11th. But PETA is nothing if not shockingly inappropriate -- hey, they're trying to save bunnies! And goats! This is frickin' serious, folks.
Maybe you knew him best as the misunderstood dancer Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing." Or perhaps your favorite memories of him are from the amazing fight scenes in "Road House." We all have our favorite Swayze moments, and it's with a heavy heart that we say good-bye to the screen icon and one-time "Sexiest Man Alive".
Not only did he have a major impact on cinema, but he was a conservationist as well. While filming "King Solomon's Mines" in South Africa, he was moved by the people and animals in the African bush.
"Out of this experience was born an idea for a global conservation documentary series that is turning huge," Swayze told the LA Times in 2004. "I've got some of the leading paleoanthropological scientists in the world coming on my team, and award-winning wildlife documentarians."