Sometimes when global warming/the economy/not-being-on-the-east-coast-for-fashion-week gets you down, there’s nothing like people coming together to celebrate entertainment in the name of sustainability to pick you up. On Thursday, February 19th, Beanstockd made a carbon-neutral trip to the Avalon Hollywood for Global Green’s pre-Oscar party. Join us on the green carpet as we chat with Oscar nominees, eco-friendly film makers, entertainers and actors to ask them about their own light – ultra green lifestyles.

Here are our highlights:

Maria Menounos, perhaps in a nod to an Oscar favorite, wore a milk fiber dress by Mr. Larkin, a designer we saw earlier in the afternoon at the hip and tres eco-chic boutique, Visionary, on Melrose. She topped the dress with recycled glass layered necklaces, living up to her eco-friendly fashion sense as the host of Planet Green’s Hollywood Green.

Heather Graham (always one to come out for a cause) looked totally down to earth, glowing organically. She noted the enormous magnitude of what will happen to our planet unless we all start acting fast. We noted that it sounds much better when she says it.

We wanted to ask Rosie Perez about working with loverboy James Franco in Pineapple Express, but all she could say was how much her foot hurt from her super cute runway shoes.

Dominic Monaghan is well-versed in the green way, having gained experience on the greenest place in all the land – the Shire. We’re positive hobbits are eco-conscious, and being stranded on an island (in Lost) would certainly make one ponder sustainability. Feeling at home in nature, Dominic has made the commitment to composting in his own habitat, and participates in a number of green movements to continue the conversation wherever he goes.

Gavin Rossdale had solar panels installed on his house, and he and Gwen Stefani (also in attendance) teach their young, fashionable fam recycling and reusing. As the UK rep, he also let us know the eco efforts across the pond are going splendidly. They now have compost “rubbish bins” as well as recycling (we swooned all over his accent!).

We also talked to the directors of the Oscar nominated documentary, Trouble the Water, about the resilient community that emerged after Hurricane Katrina in the 9th Ward District of New Orleans. Then, we heard from Josh Tickell about his movie, Fuel, and his partnership with Global Green to drive a veggie-fueled school bus on tour around the country to teach kids about going green. Can’t wait to watch both films! (How cool would it be if a green veggie-fueled bus pulled up to your elementary school?!)

Inside, Neil Patrick Harris hosted the entertainment, beginning with solo Gavin Rossdale playing many of his most popular tunes acoustic. Leonardo Dicaprio looked out from the balcony as Sheryl Crow performed some songs from her cheerful repertoire, including Soak Up the Sun (an obvious choice), Everyday is a Winding Road, a sweet duet with Gavin, and her newest New Orleans-inspired tune, Love is Free.

During the evening, we realized a pattern: the younger the star, the greener they are; proving Global Green’s National Green Schools Initiative will plant the positive seed that will lead us into a brighter future of improved learning, energy-efficiency, and green inspiration to get the world back in balance.

Matt Petersen, the founder and president of Global Green USA, told the audience, “(in the US) we spend more money on energy in schools than we do on textbooks.” In an article he recently wrote, Petersen says, “As the Congress deliberates the largest stimulus package in history, there is no single better investment that we can make than to help maximize the potential learning and productivity of our children,” a point echoed recently as President Obama addressed the nation.

Thankfully, many who made it out for the event arrived in hybrid cars (or at least said they drive one in real life). However, our favorite wheels of the night – besides the veggie van – was definitely Tyrese Gibson’s white hot Maserati with Obama 08 plates. Change is here, and the kids are on our side!

For more coverage of the event and info on Global Green’s past, present and future projects, go to www.globalgreen.org

Sharona

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On Thursday, Greenstockd will make its way down to sunny (we hope) L.A. to grace the green carpet (in repurposed leather shoes) for Global Green’s annual Pre-Oscar party. While we hope to mingle with many fun eco-celebs—who will be arriving in fuel-efficient cars as part of the Red Carpet/ Green Cars campaign—we are suitably impressed by the international movements Global Green has facilitated so far.

Present and past projects include green rebuilding in New Orleans, raising awareness of global water supplies, waste diversion collaborations, green affordable housing programs, The Global Solar Report Cards, and of course honoring green innovation with awards and parties, like the Green Inaugural Ball they co-sponsored in D.C.

Global Green USA, founded in 1993, hosts education initiatives across our country, with the intention of developing smart, sustainable community practices to better our globe. To kick-off the National Green Schools Initiative, Global Green is celebrating with some fresh, green inspiration by Sheryl Crow, Gavin Rossdale, and a slew of other green-minded supporters such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Kate Bosworth and Penelope Cruz.

With hopes of highlighting the critical need to build and rebuild our countries’ schools so they are better equipped for a climate changing planet, Global Green sheds some bright solar light on the subject.

“Providing our most precious natural resources—our children— with a healthy, safe, productive learning environment is a basic right that we hope all school children will enjoy within a generation,” said Global Green President Matt Petersen.

The National Green Schools Initiative is already underway with 34 brand new green schools in L.A.’s Unified School District with energy efficient classrooms that save electricity, natural gas, and water, and improved learning conditions for teachers and students. Global Green has also partnered with the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund to enhance the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans to better-than-before school standards. By connecting the classroom to nature, improving student attendance and performance, and ultimately investing in our youth’s green education, Global Green shows us just how bright our future (and planet) should be.

For more information on Global Green, go to globalgreen.org.

Sharona

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Winter has been wrecking havoc across the country for over two weeks now. It has postponed flights, caused traffic backups, and reduced most people to quivering, frozen lumps. So tonight as you sit in your comfy warm houses, peering out your frost covered windows, debating whether you should shovel your driveway or watch another episode of The Hills, you might want to take a second to consider something. Before you reach for that industrial sized bag of driveway salt, you should know that according to the National Research Council (NRC), road-salt use in the United States ranges from 8 million to 12 million tons per year.

Though effective, 55% of the chlorine in road salt is being washed from driveways and right into storm drains and rivers. Instead of salt why not try abrasives like kitty litter, sand and sawdust. And if all else fails and you just can’t pry yourself away from Lauren Conrad’s latest exploits, you can always just wait until spring.

Carolyn

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FlipSwap may not be the first service for recycling your old cell phone, but it is certainly the best for selfish jerks who want to get paid for helping the environment.

The smooth interface allows greedy punks to easily see just how much their phone (or iPod) is worth on trade-in. They can either then get that money in cash so they can spend it on their oh-so-important selves or donate it to a variety of e-friendly charities.

The site even has store affiliates—a big plus if you’re too self-interested to give up your phone without immediately getting money in your little grubby hands.

MD

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Hooray for hope and change throughout the land! Our election day was exciting and emotional to say the least. Besides being high from the Obama victory, (and saddened by the Prop 8 outcome) we did have one other local highlight to report.

Proposition R on our ballot asked us, “Shall the city change the name of the Oceanside water pollution control plant to the George W. Bush sewage plant?” Guess what we voted?

It didn’t pass, but plenty of San Franciscans did vote “YES” (30.9%) Maybe it would be more appropriate to name a sewage center rather than a library after Dubya. Just not this year.

But things are looking up, even for shit. We have read recent reports about the potential of poo; both human and animal varieties. Poo power is sweeping the nation in a variety of ways, as alternative energy experiments become more mainstream. San Antonio, Texas plans to produce a clean burning fuel from human waste methane gas. In Erath County, Texas biogas facilities are using cow poo pastures to eventually heat homes.

Soon, dear ole Dubya will be back in Crawford too, making Texas the leading producer of shit in the country (we’re guessing).

If manure can be manufactured into clean energy, we’d welcome the change.

We’re ready for greener pastures.

Read more about cow power here.

Sharona

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Did you watch the video? We felt that wrath. Lewis Black’s raging eyes shot right through us as he undressed the plucky libertarian sitting directly behind us. It’s actually not funny. Our timbers haven’t shivered like that since we were hand-cuffed and thrown in the back of a cop car for using a fake id back in the day.

Last month, Beanstockd attended Politics 2008, a political media conference hosted by TimeWarner. We fit right in, Obama Girl was there. Basically, it was a series of panel discussions spread over two days moderated by CNN personalities and other well known talking heads. Not surprisingly, the bailout, Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin parodies, and the “Bradley Effect” took center stage while energy policy took somewhat of a back seat—unless you count ‘Drill, Baby, Drill!’

There was, however, one symposium that focused on energy and the environment. Naturally, we were front and center. The four panelists—each coming from different angles—discussed the pros and cons of various approaches to energy policy, and the courage required in the new President to actually enact a progressive energy plan.

Anne Korin, Co-Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, is a staunch advocate for open fuel standards. Basically, she wants to reduce the value of oil by focusing on vehicle standards and flex-fuels. That would mean cooperation between Washington, the car companies and the oil companies.

David Manning, Executive Vice President of National Grid spoke about America’s energy infrastructure and how it’s not equipped to handle the country’s growing needs let alone an energy revolution. He wants to rebuild the infrastructure to create a network that would allow small and remote energy entrepreneurs to feed power into the national grid.

Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund and author of "Earth: The Sequel" was the true environmentalist of the group. An advocate of emissions-free energy—solar/wind; not gas/ethanol—he pointed out that the European Union’s biodiesel initiative has actually caused net emissions to rise.

John Rennie, Editor-in-Chief of Scientific American had the most pragmatic view of the group. With less of an emotional bond to his opinion, he pointed out things that scientists are already capable of doing—like converting biomass (the part of food we don’t eat that gets thrown out) into cellulosic biofuel. Currently too difficult and expensive to produce en masse, he thinks the profit motive will ultimately reveal the effectiveness of most green initiatives like biofuels and cap-and-trade systems.

With that out of the way, yes, Anderson Cooper was there. Great suit, bad shoes. Campbell Brown has great legs and a baby bump. Wolf Blitzer is just like Wolf Blitzer. Fareed Zakaria’s IQ must be scary-high. And Christiane Amanpour radiates gravitas. With a casual eloquence she spoke about Iran, Israel, the election and covering some of the most important international stories of our lifetime. We’d totally be her Fonzworth Bentley.

Bacon Bits

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What a well-timed Halloween 2008; it’s the scariest season we’ve seen in awhile. Wall St. is literally melting down- as showcased by an impromptu ice sculpture, “Economy.” We’ve got infamous Samuel Wurzelbacher  Joe the plumber, and his fellow “plumber” followers from his campaign (seriously?!?)  voting to “drill, baby, drill.” Ugh. This mantra may in fact be Sarah Palin’s only redeeming quality: a bunch of dudes enjoy chanting “drill, baby” at her rallies while Danger Zone plays in the background (seriously).

While we’re still working on our concept costume, “global warming,” others around the country are prepping their props to become America’s scariest, most adorable hockey mom/maverick-Governor/former Miss Alaska/possible future. . . nahh.  Just add blush, Tina Fey glasses, and irrelevant talking points. Trick, or treat?

But before you step out that door for ritualistic candy gathering, (with your reusable tote bag, obvi) check out this campaign from ForestEthics to stop junk mail and save the environment.

Send this link to your neighborhood, family and friends and green this Halloween.

More than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are sent to households each year using more than 100 million trees contributing to 51 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Much of the junk mail goes straight to the landfill unopened and not recycled. It’s annoying and unnecessary, even if she does come in pretty packaging with catchy zingers. Wait, what are we talking about again? It really is getting scary out there. Is it November 4th yet?

Happy Halloween!!!

Sharona

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Thomas Friedman, The New York Times‘ Pulitzer Prize winning op-ed writer and authority on globalization, recently wrote a striking article that brought up high school history lessons and actually made us excited about economics. "Green the Bailout" (NYTimes 9.27.08—pre bailout vote #1) had us at the headline. A meltdown is a meltdown—whether economic or ecologic—we need help, and we need it now.

In the article, Friedman says right now (or rather post bailout/next president, because "this one is wasted") is the time for a Green Revolution. If we want to secure our future and make good of this burst banking bubble we must take notes from crashes past.

After the big financial fallout of the Great Depression, FDR turned those frowns around with the New Deal, implementing government programs to steer the nation back to productivity. Americans were jobless, homeless, hungry, and dusty; but with the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), unemployed workers were sent around the country on resource protection missions—planting millions of trees, protecting against fires and floods, expanding parks, and improving natural habitats—stimulating our homeland.

In "Green the Bailout," Friedman urges the nation to return to creativity and productivity when the financial bailout is over (hooray!). "The point is, we don’t just need a bailout. We need a buildup." Moving our economy towards an "energy technology revolution" will result in more green flow all around. A green revolution would provide jobs across the board. A new breed of green collared jobs would install, maintain, and retrofit the country.

We could also conceivably create a special task force of rehabilitated bankers and get Lehman Brothers to bailout the trashed Hudson River as part of the new New Deal.

Sharona

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According to the always great Gizmodo, Sony is showing a green concept phone made of completely biodegradable materials. Since you will break your phone—but you’re way too lazy to donate it because, honestly, who has time when Gossip Girl is on in ten minutes?—it seems pretty neat to make it out of 100% eco-friendly materials.

Of course, why stop there?

We want other biodegradable products.

How about a biodegradable Bluetooth headset that you can throw away once you realize you look like a douche.

Or a biodegradable Nintendo Wii for when you realize Wii Sports is boring.

Or a biodegradable television set which can be safely thrown away after watching the Emmys.

So many options.

Although we wouldn’t want to promote green products for the sake of laziness, let’s be honest: we’re kind of lazy. And if there’s a green way to be lazy, we’d like to have it available to us. Preferably in reaching distance so we don’t have to get out of our chairs.

MD

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The world’s (wide web) fave search engine, Google, is investing more than $10 million in geothermal energy, part of its Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal (RE<C) initiative by the monopoly’s company’s nonprofit arm, Google.org. Google has also invested millions in solar thermal energy and wind power this past year.

Our fondness of Google grows by the day; its research tools are essential for successful bloggability, its map app. on iPhone gets us around town, its embarrassing street view scenes keep us entertained, its intriguing Google Sky function sends us around our own solar system the way it zooms down to us on Google Earth, it has its own verb… Now, they are applying the profits they make from these genius tools to fuel alternative energy research in many domains. (Ha, get it?)

Geothermal technology is not exactly what we would call “environmentally awesome”—the technology drills deep into the earth (red flag!) and pumps water into the naturally heated zones. As the ensuing steam powers its way to the surface, it is used to drive turbines.

At the very least, geothermal energy doesn’t use the Earth against itself like burning up non-renewable fossil fuels does. We’re glad the search giant sees the big picture (how could it not with all those satellite images and street view spy cars), and is giving back to the Earth they now control (jk, sort of). For more information – go ‘head, Google it.

Sharona

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