ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

October 7th 2008

The Green Picture: Morgan Spurlock Thanks The Monkey At Animal Sanctuary

Filed under: animals, books, events — parrish @ 7:23 pm

Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, is pictured here speaking at a Thanking The Monkey book signing party this past weekend at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. Last month, Ecorazzi spotlighted Thanking The Monkey’s author, Karen Dawn, and most recently chatted it up with Peter Singer at Dawn’s Birthday/World Vegetarian Day party in NYC! Don’t forget to check out Karen’s site along with 11 other favorites on the first edition of Ecorazzi’s Veg Blog Round-Up: News From Around Web!

October 7th 2008

Madonna Comments On Sarah Palin, Makes Little Sense

Filed under: politics — michael @ 4:53 pm

We’ve been posting various celebrity reactions to Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin — and for the most part, they’ve been fairly intelligent in their reasons for not supporting her.

Madonna’s comments on the other hand make Pamela Anderson’s critique sound poetic. From Page Six,

“At one point during the US kickoff of her “Sticky and Sweet” tour at the Meadowlands Saturday night, the Material Mom indulged her Republican-hating ways, shouting, “Sarah Palin can’t come to my party. Sarah Palin can’t come to my show. It’s nothing personal.” Then the kabbalah queen told the crowd, “Here’s the sound of Sarah Palin’s husband’s snowmobile when it won’t start,” followed by a loud screeching noise.”

What the?

October 7th 2008

Igor Animated Flick Helping To Fight Malaria!

Filed under: 'toons, campaigns, donations, movies — sara @ 4:20 pm

I am super stoked about Igor. I haven’t seen it yet, but I think as cute as the characters look it’s got to be worth checking out. The mama in me is always searching for great kid flicks, but I have to be honest in admitting that I love ‘em, too.

So I was even more excited to find out that Igor’s got a cause–and it’s a good one. The monster cartoon, voiced by John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Jay Leno, and Christian Slater, takes place in the land of Malaria. Gathering from that, and the title of this post, you’ve probably guessed the cause.

Building off the film’s message that anyone can be a hero, Malaria.com has chosen it as the perfect awareness-building tool for the disease. You can even go to their own mini Igor site to donate money to purchase mosquito netting to protect people from malaria, as well as learn about the disease.

October 7th 2008

Announcing The Veg Blog Round-Up: News From Around Web!

But first, a dozen favorite veg blogs we love to visit!

Filed under: animals, food & drink, web — parrish @ 3:49 pm

Here on Ecorazzi we’re ALL ABOUT new and exciting features that accentuate the green and bring out the celebrity in everyone! October is Vegetarian Awareness Month and since we firmly believe in partying like rock stars for awesome causes, we are super excited to announce the very first edition of our Veg Blog Round-Up: News From Around Web!

Here’s how it works: each week our team of experts will scour the internet in search of the hottest vegetarian news from our favorite meat-free blogs and bring it back to you nice and warm! To kick off the feature, we’ve compiled a list of a dozen veggie/vegan blogs that we LOVE to read! Check out the list and make sure to stop by the sites and say hello.

(Like a parent’s love for their children, we embrace all of these blogs equally. Therefore, this list is in no particular order.)

Click here to go to the list!

October 7th 2008

Chef Gordon Ramsay Calls Organic Food ‘Over-Priced And Boring’

Filed under: food & drink, not green — parrish @ 2:17 pm

Chef Gordon Ramsay quickly went from being an Ecorazzi Superstar to an Ecorazzi Bad Boy after a series of nasty events left us pretty offended. Well it looks like Gordon is once again picking a food fight, but this time with the Prince of Wales over his organic food brand.

Gordon claims that the brand is “over-priced and boring”, and told the Daily Telegraph: “I am upset with him. When I looked at his Duchy food I was gob-smacked, amazed and dumbfounded at what I discovered. Why would anyone pay that much money for one of his pies? I tried them. Just because it has a stamp and his royal crest everyone thinks it is fine, but the number of sodium’s, and the sugar content, is embarrassing.” He later adds that while he supports the profits going to charity, processed meats should not be used.

Right, so even though we’re definitely not on Team Gordon, we’d totally agree with him over the processed meat thing…IF it were true. However, Andrew Baker, CEO of Duchy Foods, has a different claim.

Baker states: “We use Soil Association specified organic ingredients as the norm and only natural flavours and colours. We never use artificial fertilisers or pesticides and our products do not contain hydrogenated fat.” Andrew later adds, “We never seek to extend the shelf life of our products by over-processing. A large percentage of our products, including our sausages, bacon and baked desserts, are delivered fresh to store on a daily basis.”

So what’s the deal here? Is Gordon just being a jerk or is Baker not telling the whole truth? Leave and comment tell us what you think!

via: digitalspy.com

October 7th 2008

Comedian Dick Cavett’s Long Island Property May Become A Nature Preserve

Filed under: business — michael @ 1:36 pm

Comedian Dick Cavett shares the honor with the late Johnny Carson of being the only talk program host to be seen on a regular basis on United States TV over five consecutive decades. The 71-year-old also made a wise investment back in 1973 on Long Island of 76.8 acres — including 1,000 feet of oceanfront and towering 60-foot-high bluffs — for $540,000.

Today, the land could be sold for a cool $30 million — but Cavett appears interested in selling to a buyer that will preserve the pristine nature of the area. It was recently announced that New York State, Suffolk County and East Hampton are moving ahead with plans to purchase the property for $18 million. Cavett will keep 16 acres for personal use — but the rest of the land will be preserved and opened up to the public with trails for hiking.

A final vote for the purchase of the property will come next week, bringing to a close almost two years of talks for what’s been talked about as “a special, unique environment and one of the most spectacular views on the East Coast.”

We hope it goes through. Read more over on Newsday…

October 7th 2008

Amy Smart Visits Method’s Eco-Friendly Pop-Up Store

Filed under: green and famous, products — michael @ 11:41 am

Actress Amy Smart stopped by the Method pop-up shop in Chicago on Sunday with her family to pick-up a bunch of eco-friendly cleaning products. They filled up a few reusable “Plastic Bag Rehab” tote bags with goodies including grapefruit all-purpose cleaner, Go Naked all-purpose wipes and the new Smarty Dish automatic dishwashing tablets.

Really digging these Method Pop-Up Shops. Visitors are even encouraged to drop off their toxic chemical cleaners as part of the store’s “toxic turn-in” in exchange for a free method product. If you live near Chicago, check out the store at 2034 N Halsted St between Armitage and Dickens Aves. Open 11am–8pm daily. The store closes October 12th.

Thanks to Danny Seo for the tip!

October 7th 2008

The Green Quote: Death Cab For Cutie’s Jason McGerr On Charity

Filed under: donations, music — parrish @ 11:00 am

“[My] charitable time is in the world of music [and] the world of teaching and education, spending time in Seattle public schools [and] private teaching schools and donating my time for school camps. Because we’re able to do what we love and make our livings doing it, it is my duty to give back. The budgets in the public school system for not only lunches but for extracurricular programs are just not there anymore. Nick’s mom was a principal for years, she could tell you. My mom was a teacher was a teacher for years, so education has been in my background and upbringing for years and years and years. I used to teach in a music school and don’t have much time now, but when I do have time I certainly volunteer all my time…â€

- Jason’s McGerr discussing Death Cab For Cutie’s charitable contribution. To read the entire article, including information on the group’s work with PETA, Planned Parenthood and 826 Valencia, visit looktothestars.org!

October 7th 2008

NZ Movie Stuntman Finds Success In Building Eco-Friendly Coffins

Filed under: film-tv, green and famous, movies — michael @ 10:43 am

Stuntman Andrew Stehlin has been shot, blown up and minced in movies such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong and Pirates of the Carribean. So it makes perfect sense that he would know a thing or two about death.

In the past year, Stehlin has used that advantage — and his skills as a carpenter — to design and manufacture eco-friendly kitset coffins that slot together without the use of nails, screws or tools. They’re available in either in untreated pine or Italian poplar, and can be lined with recycled woollen mattresses. “The kitset nature of Back To Earth coffins means I can pre-make the pieces when I have some down time from film work,” he said.

You might remember Stehlin from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, when he became the first in an army of marching Uruk-hai warriors to die when he was shot in the throat with an arrow.

Has this guy got a cool job, or what? Great to see him involved on the green burial scene as well. So far, about 10 of his coffins have been purchased for green cemeteries around New Zealand.

via redorbit

October 7th 2008

Heather Mills And PETA Want Ben and Jerry’s To Use Breast Milk

Filed under: animals, campaigns, food & drink — parrish @ 10:07 am

Heather Mills is completely redefining: “my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard†by teaming up with PETA to urge Ben and Jerry’s to replace cows’ milk with human breast milk.

Tracy Reiman, PETA executive vice president, explains the campaign this way: “PETA’s request comes after reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting it for 75 per cent of the cows’ milk in the food that he serves.The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn’t make sense. So Ben and Jerry’s could do consumers and cows a big favour by making the switch to breast milk.”

I totally think Tracy’s on to something with the dairy thing, but I’d much rather down a huge glass of delicious rice milk than some random woman’s tepid boob milk. For real!

This isn’t the first time that Heather has outwardly supported other dairy alternatives, she recently was quoted saying: “Why don’t we drink rats’ milk, cats’ milk or dogs’ milk? The startling truth is that animals farmed for meat and dairy are now one of the greatest threats to the planet.The United Nations issued a shocking report on the environmental damage being done by livestock. I became a vegetarian for health reasons. Then I found out about the awful animal abuse in factory farms and dairy herds and became a vegan. The easiest and most effective way of cutting our contribution is to change our diet and go vegan.”

Heather’s right about one thing: vegans are super kickass! But what do you think about this human breast milk thing? Does it skeeze you out as much as it does me? Chime in and share your thoughts!

via: femalefirst.co.uk