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GreenWerks | 
Dec 13th, 2011 | 
These days it’s cool to be green so you can be sure that celebs will be seen ‘doing their bit’ whenever they can. The thing is, we all know what celebrities are like. Take away the glitz and glamour of celebrity and, in many cases, there’s not much left of any substance. The closest many of these stars ever get to ‘being green’ is the color of their skin after a hard nights partying.
Take Sir Paul McCartney for instance who allegedly had a hybrid car flown to him via a fuel guzzling private jet or Barbra Streisand who apparently demands 100 towels for every concert. They’re all the same right? Well surprisingly, no! A growing number of Hollywood’s elite are in fact setting a real example when it comes to all things green that many of us should indeed be following.
So who are leading lights in the world of eco-celebrity? Read on to find out more about the greenest celebrity lifestyles around the world.
9th Ward – Brad Pitt & Make it Right Organisation
After Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans in 2005, movie legend Brad Pitt and his ‘Make it Right’ organisation, teamed up with other organisations to help local residents and businesses to rebuild the city’s Lower 9th Ward Community. The organisation is committed to assisting pre-Katrina residents, who want to return to their old neighborhood, by building 150 affordable, green storm resistant homes using state of the art technologies and materials that provide long-term product life cycles. So far the Make it Right foundation has completed 50 homes, enabling almost 200 people to return home.
Daryl Hannah – Converted Stagecoach
When she’s not working, actress and environmentalist Daryl Hannah spends her time at her converted stagecoach solar panelled home in the Canadian Rockies. Her eco-friendly home is powered using solar energy and was built using green materials. Next door is a barn made from reclaimed wood where her and her guests sit on a sofa carved from a stone and with moss, which the movie star regularly waters to keep it alive. As if that’s not enough, Daryl also drives a biodiesel car and publishes a weekly video blog called DHLoveLife all about sustainable living.
Ellen Page on eating locally
Ellen Page, co-star of Inception, has spoken about the importance of eating locally. Speaking to magazine, Mother Earth “I find a lot of people say, ‘Oh organic and local’s expensive and I just don’t have time.’ And I’m like, well how much TV do you watch? Where are your priorities right now? I always take the time to eat well and eat locally because it’s common sense.”
Johnny Depp’s 35 Acre Island
After allegedly falling in love with the Bahamas whilst filming Pirates of the Caribbean II, Johnny Depp secured his own little corner of the Commonwealth Islands by purchasing the island of Little Hall’s Pond Cay, a 35-acre island in Exuma Land and Sea Park a protected national park featuring natural coral reefs. The private island is just one mile long and only 400 meters wide and features a self-sustainable cottage, which runs only on solar-hydrogen power. The property was built by eco-construction guru Mike Strizki who built the first US solar-hydrogen powered house.
George W Bush – Crawford Ranch
So green it’s classed as ‘off the grid’, George W Bush’s Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford Texas only needs itself to run. It has a geothermal heating and cooling system that uses just 25% of the energy that conventional homes use. The eco-ranch also features a water purifying system which uses ‘grey water’ whereby water normally classified as waste is recycled and purified before being reused the home.
Jessica Alba Furniture
It happens to many of us on becoming a parent, a switch flicks on in our brain and we suddenly start to care more about the environment. That’s exactly what happened to Hollywood stunner Jessica Alba and her husband Cash Warren. After welcoming their daughter ‘Honor’ into the world, they furnished their house recycled material furniture, painted with eco-friendly paint and even ‘grassed’ the back garden using a material made from recycled tyres! Interior Designer Kari Whitman said of Jessica “She’s probably the greenest client of all my clients. She really, really cares about the earth.”
Leonardo Di Caprio Toyota Prius
Back in 2002, when most of us had still not heard of hybrid cars, Leonardo DiCaprio was already showing us the way by driving a Toyota Prius. He stated that the car was just like any other except he only had to fill it up once every three weeks. This just goes to show how easy it is for celebrities to lead by example, encouraging others to make a similar effort. Of course Toyota were also delighted that a massive Hollywood star had given their car some free publicity.
Ed Begley Jr House
American actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr, probably best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St. Elsewhere, was reportedly influenced by friends, Jackson Browne and Larry Hagman, when designing his eco-friendly house. So far the actor’s green residence includes a solar powered outdoor oven, a picket fence made from recycled milk bottles and water butts that collect and recycle rainwater. Begley is also the author of Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life and Ed Begley Jr.’s Guide to Sustainable Living: Learning to Conserve Resources and Manage an Eco-Conscious Life as well as presenting his own reality show about green living called Living With Ed alongside his wife, Rachelle Carson-Begley.
Julia Roberts Eco Renovations
Despite living in a 6,000 square foot home with her husband and three children, Actress Julia Roberts still does her bit to help save the planet. She has recently spent an estimated $20 million on eco-renovations to her clifftop home including wood from sustainably managed forests, recycled tiling, and solar panels. Having three roofs covered in solar panels and living in Malibu certainly helps to harnesses the natural energy of the sun.
This is a guest post on behalf of Netcars.com a used car search engine that can help you to find green cars including the Toyota Prius.
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Well, we can’t all be movie/television superstars but we can be super in our very own simple way when it comes to making an effort in helping take care of our environment. I personally feel that each and every one of us (simple people) can make a really big difference if only we can manage to put our hearts and mind into protecting and caring for Mother Earth.
It’s good to know that there are celebrities who have concern for the environment. Even though we don’t have enough money to buy eco-friendly things like they have, we could still show our concern by doing the simple things that can help the environment stay clean and green.