green celebrities

Bill Nye is a long-time environmentalist with a motto: "Leave the world a better place. (Sometimes you gotta pick up somebody else's trash.)"

After a successful run on PBS with "Bill Nye the Science Guy," the multi-hyphenate comedian-TV host-science educator-mechanical engineer is now finding out how "Stuff Happens" on Planet Green's new half hour show (catch it on Tuesdays at 9PM ET). In it, Nye traces where the things we eat, wear, and use come from, and what impact that has on our entire planet.

If anyone's equipped to find links to our stuff and make the information fun, it's this 53-year-old who once had a day job as an engineer and spent nights doing stand-up comedy. "My family is funny," Nye said. "I mean funny in the sense that we make people laugh, not just funny looking."

We talked to Nye about his "feud" with neighbor Ed Begley, Jr., why breakfast matters and got him to confess his biggest eco sin.

read more

comment | permalink | print | email |

share

reddit digg Del.icio.us facebook newsvine stumble What is share?

Ah, summer. Time to roll out the big flicks, beach parties and global grooving. So who's rocking the green?

Planet Green Premiere Party
Discovery's Planet Green threw one heckuva launch concert for their new 24/7-eco channel (debuts June 04) and thedailygreen.com scored a VIP pass to the Tommy Lee/Ludacris headlining love jam. The duo is set to star in "Battleground Earth," where they "fight the toxic forces that threaten Mother Earth." We're buying it.

Tommy Lee and Ludacris on stage.

Comedian Tommy Davidson hosted the fete while aud members tossed giant green balls around L.A.'s beauteous Greek Theater. A surprisingly taut-looking Twisted Sister's Dee Snider belted "We're Not Gonna Take It," followed by more perfs including Christian band Switchfoot, Ziggy Marley and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons.

PG's newest stars dutifully walked the green carpet, such as a hirsute Tom Green plugging his upcoming game show, celeb announcer Maria Menounos (who hosts "Hollywood Green"), and Bill Nye, making the rounds for "Stuff Happens."

Adrian Grenier and the cast of "The Green Life."

A dapper, suit-sporting Adrian Grenier joined green guru Boise Thomas, sustainable style expert Angela Lindvall and eco-renovation expert Darren Moore to talk about their new series "The Green Life." Grenier recently told TV Guide: "My friends and I get together, turn off all the electricity in the house and go off grid. We enjoy each other's company without distractions from the radio or cell phones -- and our carbon footprint is zero!" Somehow we can't see Turtle, Drama, E or especially Ari digging that scene.

Back to the (Santa Monica) Beach
At the beach city's Pacific Park Pier amusement park, Mrs. Governator Maria Shriver and her kids recently rode the spanking new Ferris Wheel -- a $1.5 million energy-efficient marvel -- at the ride's dedication ceremony. The wheel is solar powered and 75 percent more energy efficient than the previous one, which was auctioned off on Ebay for a whopping $132,400, half of which went to the Special Olympics charity.

The Hulk.

Edward Norton's Incredibly Green Hulk
Edward Norton's been getting some bad press for his "feud" with Marvel over the final cut of "The Incredible Hulk" (in theaters June 13), so he's laying low so as not to jeopardize the movie from becoming a green monster hit.

But Norton and producer Gale Ann Hurd shouldn't be mum about the enormous eco efforts they made throughout the "Hulk" production. Early on, they teamed with the Environmental Media Association to "be the greenest movie ever." EMA prexy Debbie Levin developed a "green coach" program -- experts who advise films on all aspects of production from purchases to building green sets and carbon offsetting.

Hurd said she intended to make "Hulk" a green standard-bearer for the rest of the biz.

Catching Cash For Kelly Slater's Charity
Sean Penn, Eddie Vedder and Ben Harper recently turned out to fete surf god Kelly Slater's Foundation, supporting enviro groups Miocean, Reef Check and the Surfrider Foundation. The bash, held at a Cotton Point, CA Oceanside estate raised more than $350,000.

LooktotheStars.org reports that Vedder and Harper performed to a group of 600, with Slater joining to jam on the night's final tune -- Pearl Jam's "Indifference." "Half of every song I've ever written, was written in the ocean so that's sort of my way of giving back," says Vedder.

Chris Noth at a Rainforest Alliance Event.

Big's Little Green
And with boffo box office numbers for "Sex and the City," we're inspired to mention that "Big" actor Chris Noth recently attended a Rainforest Action Network bash for Gotham Magazine in NY. Proudly showing pics of his 4-month-baby boy Orion, Noth tells the New York Daily News that people need to support the organization and protect our "green little planet despite George Bush!"

Shoeless Scarlett
June 1 kicked off Soles4Souls Barefoot Week, and Don Cheadle, Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson are some celebs helping support the charity's work--donating shoes where needed, especially after natural disasters. According to Soles4Souls founder Wayne Elsey, 300 million children have never owned a pair of shoes and that same amount was dumped into American landfills last year alone. Ms. Johansson has reportedly donated 2,000 pairs of shoes to the charity.

Photo Credits: Wireimage.com and Universal Studios

comment | permalink | print | email |

share

reddit digg Del.icio.us facebook newsvine stumble What is share?