Hollywood’s Golden Night Goes Green (Sort of)

Sunday night will undoubtedly be a night to remember. With the red carpet, black tuxedos, teary-eyed acceptance speeches, and oh yes, that iconic gold statue all present and accounted for, one might ask, where is the green? Or should I say, where does the green movement fit in? Two years ago, the Academy Awards made a splash in the eyes of greenies, designing the telecast to be carbon-neutral and environmentally friendly for the first time ever. Apparently, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Prius just wasn’t cutting it anymore for the Hollywood scene.

Producer Laura Ziskin led the Academy’s first-ever green movement with help of the nonprofit Bonneville Environmental Foundation to offset the estimated 250,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions that are associated with the event and affairs that lead up to it (i.e. the Oscar telecast, the Governor’s Ball, the Road to the Oscars Pre-Show, and the Red Carpet Event).The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) also got in on the act by helping to redesign the green rooms (no pun intended), equipping them with environmental fixtures, recycling bins, and even providing the ballots themselves, which were crafted from recycled paper products.

Flash forward two years and what do we have? Eco-Oscar swag bags. Rice Works®, the rice crisps chip snack (which claims to be naturally healthy), will be among the marginally green products tucked away in the ultra-classy, designer-done, swag bags set up for celebrities, fashionistas, and celebutantes to pick and probe over.

While the non-profit Global Green also tried to provide a soap box for celebrities to preach their green movements from this year by sponsoring a pre-show green event, one must ask, is Hollywood really going green? Or is this just another example of ‘green washing’? I have a feeling that Roger Ebert won’t be giving this year’s ‘Oscar green movement’ two thumbs up.

Although accusations of green washing, which is defined by the Sustainability Dictionary, as "any form of marketing or public relations that links a corporate, political, religious or nonprofit organization to a positive association with environmental issues for an unsustainable product, service, or practice,” may be a bit harsh, I’m still calling a bluff on the Global Green and Academy Awards preaching a green movement.

While The Oscars and Global Green have made noble attempts at converting celebrities into eco-conscious citizens, I am still plagued by the question of how you convert an event into an eco-friendly experience without losing entertainment value? I agree that recycle systems and natural snacks are a step in the direction, but I’m still left feeling that Hollywood’s green movement is lacking the push it needs make a permanent change -- especially at the Kodak Theatre. Let’s see the place lit up by solar panels or run off of generators fueled by biomass before we tip our hats to Hollywood. If The Academy really wanted to erase their carbon footprint, they could start by forbidding gas guzzling limousines and provide alternative forms of transportation. While I’m not holding my breath, I guess we’ll have to wait and see who turns up wearing the same dress as last year to determine what celebrity really believes in the green movement.

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[Cheap Prada Bags]

A lifetime of happiness!No man alive could bear it; it would be hell on erath.