The Good, the Bad and the Greenest Stars

How proud of our green glitterati are we this summer? Seriously, who'd have imagined Entourage's eco-warrior Adrian Grenier would take ex-con Paris Hilton under his wing to help her find an environmentally friendly crib? Reportedly, Grenier told the heiress, "You're the most photographed woman in the world. Think what you could do if you used that attention to bring light to a cause."

New "friends" Paris and Adrian

This newest eco "we're just friends" couple has been snapped at recent events, including Leonardo DiCaprio's 11th Hour premiere. Maybe Grenier's just the guy to get Hilton to make good on her post-jail pledge to make the world a better place.

Down Under, Cate Blanchett is doing her share by driving less and installing 30 timers throughout her home as a way to prevent water waste. The 38-year-old activist-actress is also featured in the Australian Conservation Foundation's online campaign,
Who on Earth Cares, which keeps a tally of the total CO₂ emissions savings on the continent.

Cate Blanchett

Perhaps Blanchett will take her eco-activism further and insist that Footprint Films Fund, a new U.K. venture that will lend green funds to independent international film projects, finance her next film. As one of the fund managers explained it: "[It] could be used to offset things like travel, electricity and food production. People are keen to make films green, and we'll also be promoting things like recycling."

Natalie Portman in National Geographic's "This Bulb" video

Back on American soil, One Tree Hill actress Sophia Bush spent a recent weekend helping clean Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina as part of the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project. Nearby, East Coast glam dolls Natalie Portman, Kyra Sedgwick and Chloe Sevigny taped a National Geographic "This Bulb" video extolling the benefits of switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs. On the West Coast, under the flash of pap bulbs, Sarah Michelle Gellar shopped at Trader Joe's grocery with her own reusable bags in hand. Way to slay, Buffy.

Brad in New Orleans

For more serious-minded endeavors, this past week Brad Pitt toured a New Orleans construction site for an enviro-friendly house. The three-bedroom, single-family home is the first of five planned based on a design competition Pitt supported for Global Green USA. Some of the home's green features include energy-saving appliances, a cistern, toilets designed for water conservation, soy-based insulation, paperless drywall, a solar-paneled roof and nontoxic repellent for mold and termites. "A lot of thought has gone into this house," Pitt said while touring the site.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Even the holy go green: Archbishop Desmond Tutu recorded a message to support the group Global Cool. "Like many big problems facing the world today, the power to solve global warming lies within the heart and the actions of the individual and begins very much at home," the South African Nobel Peace Prize Laureate said in his message. "However, the consequences of doing nothing are far-reaching, and will affect everyone from Africa to the United Kingdom, to America and beyond. And global warming is not something that is going to happen in the future; it is already happening now. We are seeing floods in Kenya, in Mozambique, and devastating droughts — all the result of climate change. We can do something to halt the dangerous changes that come with climate change." We'll pray to that.

Here is someone who could use green enlightenment: Bette Midler recently cut more than 230 trees around her 58,000-square-foot Kauai, Hawaii, property without a permit. Although most of the slashed trees were nonnative species, some native trees were also removed. The Board of Land and Natural Resources fined the usually eco-aware actress $6,500, and now she will follow a replanting program. While her lawyer claims it was an unfortunate mistake (she was cutting the trees with the idea of improving the lot with native species), Midler's no wind beneath our green wings right now. Bette, what happened to our Compost Queen?

Finally, while it probably wasn't toxic impurities that forced Hamptons officials to scratch P. Diddy's $100,000 fireworks show for his Labor Day party, it's still a good thing for our ozone layer. The all-white light show was designed to match the all-white dress code for Diddy's elite guest list. TGC wonders whether 37-year-old Sean Combs — who raked in an estimated $28 mil last year alone — might turn his social-event-of-the-summer white party to green? Just a thought.

Photos: Wireimage.com