MNN - Mother Nature Network

While the Golden Globes may have ditched it's animal-friendly option for attendees this year, those of the vegan persuasion (Woody Harrelson, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Joaquin Phoenix to name a few) will certainly find themselves right at home at the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards. 

 

The 19th annual show has in recent years become a model of sustainability - with each year building on previous initiatives successful in reducing the environmental impact of the massive event. Organizers in particular have always been proud of the evening's menu - which is locally sourced from family farms (11 this year) and other purveyors.

 

Besides conventional options such as beef and salmon, this year's new vegan menu features roasted beets and blood oranges with mint and black olives, cauliflower couscous with pomegranate salsa, and farro with kale, young broccoli, currants and pine nuts. 

 

“We know the people we get everything from,” chef Suzanne Goin told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s not just a stockpile of food that you’re ordering from.”

 

Additional initiatives include a comprehensive recycling and composting program, a no-idling zone around the Shrine Auditorium, an online digital press kit, iTunes distribution for many films, electronic balloting options, reused stage components, red carpets and sustainable procurement.

 

This year's awards show will also continue the successful tree planting program started last year in partnership with the for-profit reforestation company Patagonia Sur.

 

“Patagonia Sur is planting 3,400 trees — two for each of the 1,700 guests at the Post SAG Awards Gala hosted by People magazine and the Entertainment Industry Foundation," organizers shared. "In their gala gift bags, guests will find a code enabling them to log on to affix their names to the trees being planted in their honor within a part of Chilean Patagonia, now called the SAG Awards Forest. Viewers inspired by these efforts can also evaluate their personal carbon footprint by going to the same website.”

 

This past October, the Environmental Media Association recognized the SAG Awards with their fourth consecutive Green Seal award - the only special event to have achieved that honor. 

 

The SAG Awards will be held Sunday, Jan. 27, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center and broadcast on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. EST.