With sightings of Kylie Minogue, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and interest from numerous pro footballers and their wives, Lower Mills Estate, a property so far consisting of 214 individually-built homes, has been declared by The Independent as the “eco-estate extraordinaire and Britain’s most exclusive community.”

Owner Jeremy Paxton is mum on what other stars live there or have shown interest, but when one eco-home, The Orchid, (modeled after Bee Orchids which grow wild on the property) recently went for £7.2 million (a record in the English countryside), buyers would almost have to be famous to be able to put up that kind of scratch. 

Posted by Colleen Kane on May 5, 2008 at 11:16 AM
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My main man Conan O’Brien has been in the news this week with the announcement that Jimmy Fallon is taking over hosting duties when Cone takes over for Jay Leno. Jimmy is pretty to look at and all, but him as a host would send me off to dreamland even faster and with fewer laughs. And as DListed pointed out, what do we have to do to get a woman hosting late night? (Besides the short-lived Caroline Rhea Show and that Chelsea lady; come on major networks, we’re half the population, for crying out loud!)

Anyway. On to the eco aspect: Usually when you think of Conan O’Brien, the only green that comes to mind is the 40 shades of his ancestral homeland. On Wednesday, as part of NBC’s “Green Week,” Late Night with Conan O’Brien had an all-green episode, featuring guests like Seth Green, and travel editor Peter Greenberg. (Get it?)

Posted by Colleen Kane on Apr 28, 2008 at 10:57 AM
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Earth Day is predictably bringing the celebrities out of the woodwork to participate. The Daily Green listed a lot of them, including Amber Valletta, the Roots, Menudo, Ziggy Marley, Chevy Chase, Zach Braff, and Kevin Bacon.

But what about the biggest celebrity of all time? What about Elvis? With all those cars and two private jets, he was probably not so earth-friendly. According to my Graceland tour guide, he once flew Lisa Marie to Colorado on a whim because she’d never seen snow before. Then, the story goes, they turned around and came back home.

But that was back before most people paid any attention to the environment. Today, I learned when reading about an Earth Day celebration in Kansas City, we have Eco Elvis.

Posted by Colleen Kane on Apr 18, 2008 at 12:37 PM
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Last week Blythe Danner appeared with other activists in New York City to unveil natural gas garbage trucks. Hooray—I’ve turned my face away from those traditional black-smoke-billowing polluters many times in the past, and New York can use all the air-quality help it can get. The Huffington Post declared it, “Real Greening, Not ‘Green Washing.’” Danner appeared in Union Square on Thursday to promote the debut of two garbage trucks and one street sweeper that run on natural gas, thanks to a group called Energy Vision.

From Huff Po, via Energy Vision’s report distributed at the press event:

“Because of just the 38 natural gas trucks put on the streets in the NY region as a result of the four initiatives that were highlighted at today's Union Square event, New Yorkers will be spared the health risks, involving asthma, other respiratory illnesses, and cancers associated with more than 124 tons a year of airborne particulates (soot) and smog-forming nitrogen oxides. Were half of the diesel refuse collection and recycling trucks operating in New York City traded in for natural gas models ‘more than 16,000 tons of pollutants would be eliminated a year, while reliance on a clean domestic fuel would eliminate the need for 23 million gallons a year of petroleum-based diesel fuel, which is getting more expensive by the day and relies on imported oil.’”

Posted by Colleen Kane on Apr 14, 2008 at 11:23 AM
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Willie Nelson, who turns 75 this month, is not just a country star, but a rock star in the realm of green causes. He’s already championed biodiesel on many occasions and has his own line of fuel called BioWillie. In fact, a Texas truck stop selling his biofuel and ethanol is set to open this summer. 

Willie was just voted the number two greenest musician by Billboard Magazine in their (all together now) green issue. (Number one was Jack Johnson, and rounding out the top ten were usual suspects KT Tunstall, Radiohead, and Dave Matthews Band, as well as lesser mentioned acts like Serj Tankian and Missy Higgins.)  And now he’s sticking up for mistreated dairy cattle: On March 28, Willie sent a letter to Land O Lakes President Chris Policinski, to urge him to stop the abuse of baby cows used to make Land O Lakes dairy products.

Posted by Colleen Kane on Apr 4, 2008 at 11:04 AM
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