Just when you didn’t think you could hear more about how “green” Hollywood is, we brought you the Hollywood Goes Green series. Check out the recap of the greenest Hollywood celebs.
Love ’em or hate ’em, celebrities have the means to enjoy lifestyles that most of us cannot even fathom. So we have to give props to the stars who choose to make green living a priority. Here, we’ve listed out each of the celebs featured in our Hollywood Goes Green series.
Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt was the first green celeb we featured — admittedly because of my lifelong crush. However, he’s more than just a pretty face. Along with Angelina Jolie, Pitt donated $2 million to the N/a’an ku sê Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia, which is an organization committed to the conservation and the protection of the Namibian wildlife, land and people.
He also established the Make It Right Foundation and built 150 green homes for displaced Hurricane Katrina victims. The homes in the community are all LEED platinum-certified for their sustainability and energy-efficiency.
Natalie Portman
She’s known for her amazing acting skills and stunning looks, but Natalie Portman is also a green celeb. Her commitment to animals and the environment led her to choose a vegan lifestyle for many years (she gave it up during pregnancy).
Portman was involved in an Animal Planet documentary, Gorillas on the Brink, which looked at how conservationists were working to prevent the mountain gorillas from becoming extinct.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Another hot celeb that leaves us breathless, Leonardo DiCaprio made our Hollywood Goes Green list for his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, created to raise awareness of environmental issues important to him. We’re also impressed by his commitment to the World Wildlife Fund and tiger conservation.
DiCaprio was also involved in a documentary about a community rebuilt to be completely green following its destruction in a 2007 tornado. He is known for skipping chartered flights, driving a green car in the past and giving generously to green organizations.
George Clooney
He may have been named the Sexiest Man Alive twice, but we also love George Clooney, our fourth Hollywood Goes Green celeb, for acknowledging that Hollywood and green living aren’t always easily compatible.
“You don’t want to be a spokesperson unless you are absolutely committed to a cause because you can hurt it,” he told Time magazine. I’ve been asked to help represent environmental groups. I’m a big proponent of cleaning up the environment. I have two electric cars. But I also have a big weak spot because I’ve flown on private jets.”
Still, Clooney has worked to raise awareness of our need to move away from dependence on oil, and is known for his extensive humanitarian work.
Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek is talented and beautiful — and she became an even bigger green Hollywood celeb after becoming a mom. She participated in The Bid to Save the Earth, helping raise more $1.4 million for the Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana, the Central Park Conservancy and Conservation International.
Hayek has served on the Global Green Board, installed solar panels on her Hollywood home and drove a green car.
Edward Norton
Are we sensing a theme with hot, talented and committed? Edward Norton was one of our Hollywood Goes Green series for a number of reasons. He’s a board member of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Fund, which helps protect East Africa’s ecosystems and biodiversity. In fact, he even ran the New York City marathon to support the organization.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Edward Norton a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity. Of that, Norton said, “Environmental conservation, climate change, biodiversity are very much the issues that will define [this] generation.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow embraces green living in Hollywood. She isn’t necessarily aligned with any specific green organizations, but she instead focuses on daily green living.
“My mom has always been conscious of the environment and health issues. When I was growing up, we would go to farmers markets and even had wheatgrass in the kitchen. She started a curbside recycling program in Santa Monica, California, in the ’70s, and each week I drove with her to the recycling center,” Paltrow said to author Christopher Gavigan in his book Healthy Child, Healthy World. (Source: Planet Forward)
More green in Hollywood
Other celebs — and groups of celebs — live green, too. And we believe that it all adds up!
- Dave Matthews Band: The band works hard to keep their tours as green as possible, partnering with Reverb to accomplish that. Dave Matthews Band also launched the Green Music Group, “a large-scale, high-profile environmental coalition of musicians, industry leaders and music fans using our collective power to bring about widespread environmental change within the music industry and around the globe.”
- More stars who respect the planet: Celebs such as Sigourney Weaver, Jay Leno, Alanis Morissette and Pierce Brosnan also get two thumbs up for their green ways.
Read our entire Hollywood Goes Green series >>
More on green living
Going green in 2011: Corporate food composting
Slowly going green: Learning to live green, week by week
Hybrid vehicles, the green way to drive
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