Hot stars raise global warming awareness
Tue, Apr 28 2009 at 12:39 PM EST
Read more: ACTIVISM
THAT'S HOT: Celebs act out against global warming and other green issues. (Photo: Sebastian Fritzon/Flickr) 
Three fair-haired lady celebs are offering energy solutions right about now. They are, in order of respectability: Daryl Hannah, Pamela Anderson, and last, but most entertaining, Paris Hilton.
Daryl Hannah, who should really have some kind of bamboo crown for being such an oldschool, hardcore greenie, has raised her voice in defense of bio-fuels, the reputation of which has been taking a beating lately due to the ethanol/raised food prices connection.
Hannah’s been driving a converted El Camino muscle car that runs on vegetable oil for a decade now. She’s lived on her own eco-farm in the Rocky Mountains near Telluride, CO, for double that amount of time, where she grows her own vegetables (she’s vegetarian) and tools around the rougher terrain on a veggie oil-powered 4x4.
Daryl says she didn’t anticipate that ethanol production would raise food prices, but she’s still convinced that sustainably produced bio-fuels are the way to go: "There are many other fuel-processing techniques and feed stocks that bio-fuels can come from - for both bio-diesel and ethanol," including "garbage, hemp, algae, moringa, jatropha, cellulose waste, and prairie grasses."
And against big oil, she says, "I've personally witnessed the devastation in the Amazon that the oil companies have wrought upon these indigenous communities. There are open, unlined waste pits, rainbow oil slicks on the streams, high cadmium and lead poisoning in the children and wildlife. When you see these crimes, you have no choice but to speak up."
Meanwhile, it’s been announced that another vocal vegetarian, Pamela Anderson, decided to fund the building of an eco-hotel in Abu Dhabi. She visited the United Arab Emirates with the Make a Wish Foundation, met the royal family, and was talked into investing in a sustainably built hotel. "It's going to be built with no fossil fuels at all in Abu Dhabi where they have all that oil,” she said.
And now Paris Hilton has made a video for Funny or Die, responding to the use of her image in a John McCain ad. In it, she has her own suggestions for solving the energy crisis, which she’ll tell you just as soon as she finishes reading an article on where to fly to get the best tan (it’s Maui). She suggested a compromise between McCain’s plan for offshore drilling and Obama’s call for alternative fuels. “Energy crisis solved.” Hot. Thanks, Paris!
Story by Colleen Kane. This article originally appeared in Plenty in August 2008.
Copyright Environ Press 2008
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Celebs..
Celebs always have interesting views on our environment but have such a powerful effect on the culture of the US. If they are doing it, then there is a higher incentive for the rest of us to take action as well. I salute Hannah's car that runs on biofuels and Anderson's announcement to fund the eco-hotel. These steps are small, but vital to help us combat global warming. As for Paris's Hilton's ideas.. thanks for the smile!
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