ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

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.

September 15th 2008

Tinker Bell Wants You To Save Energy, Giggle While You Do It

Filed under: 'toons, campaigns, green and famous — michael @ 10:32 am

Disney’s lovable, glowing, and all-together too happy Tinker Bell is pitching energy conservation for the US Department of Energy is a new series of PSAs. The animated clip (what? Julia Roberts wasn’t available?) features Tink and her friends giggling, flying around turning off glowing mushrooms, and pretty much confirming how much cooler their lives are compared to yours. Of course, there is that messy love triangle between her, Peter Pan, and Jane — so maybe we can relate to her after all. Check out the clip below or visit the official site here.

August 21st 2008

Greenpeace Uses Wall-E To Attack Kleenex Forest Destruction

Filed under: 'toons, film-tv, movies, video, web — michael @ 6:36 pm

Greenpeace is taking the environmental themes from Pixar’s latest animated flick Wall-E and extending them to include the virgin deforestation practices of tissue-brand Kleenex. Teaming up with celebrated animator Mark Fiore, the short cartoon shows a Wall-E robot discovering a nasty looking counterpart called Kleer-E. When the curious robot touches a button on the Kleer-E it comes to life and plays a short video detailing how Kleenex clear cuts every tree and leaves nothing but stumps behind.

The irony is that while Kleenex has boxes on the market featuring Pixar’s Wall-E character and sporting “This box is made from 100% recycled paper.†on the bottom — the tissues inside are made from centuries-old trees that were cut from forests that had been around for as much as 10,000 years. According to Greenpeace, there’s nothing green or sustainable about their products.

Check out the video after the jump — or hop on over to the Greenpeace Kleercut site to help make a difference and petition Kleenex to change their ways.

Click here to view the Greenpeace Wall-E Video…

August 11th 2008

The Goode Family To Make You Laugh This November

Filed under: 'toons, film-tv, television — michael @ 1:35 pm

Mike Judge, the creator of King of the Hill and Beavis and Butt-head, is putting the finishing touches on a new animated series called The Goode Family. As you might suspect from the name, the series follows the adventures of an obsessively “green†family who live a politically correct lifestyle. Judging from the above photo, we’re cringing with excitement over what hilarity and mocking might be in store. Here are a few more details:

“Mr. Goode or Gerald Goode is an administrator at a community college. He comes from a long line of overeducated academic liberals. Helen Goode is Gerald’s wife, a local activist who someday dreams of becoming an activist. They have a adopted son Ubuntu, who is from Africa. They have a biological daughter named Bliss. She often disagrees with her parents and sometimes pokes some holes in their worldviews. They have a dog who is also vegan. He craves meat and often tries to eat other pets in the neighborhood.”

I love that the dog is a forced vegan with a taste for animal pets. I wonder if Alicia Silverstone’s dogs feel the same way?

Look for The Goode Family to move into your television sets this coming November.

April 15th 2008

The Green Picture: Thundercats Logo Displayed On Old Coal Power Station

Filed under: 'toons — michael @ 11:08 am

No, this is not an environmental statement from the Thundercats against coal-fired power plants — but more a celebration by the UK division of Warner Brothers of the Season Two DVD release of the series. The logo — reminiscent of the 80’s cartoon call to arms was displayed on the now defunct Battersea Power Station in London. After the fold, you can also see the logo displayed on the side of the Parliament building. Awesome.

Read the rest of this entry »

April 14th 2008

Sean Astin To Voice New Animated Eco-Film About Gophers

Filed under: 'toons, film-tv, movies — michael @ 4:15 pm

Channeling his love for the Ents in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, actor Sean Astin is set to help voice a new animated film that revolves around a couple of gophers, some old trees, and a nasty highway developer. Joining Astin will be Giovanni Ribisi, Ron Perlman and Anjelica Huston in Spirit of the Forest, an eco-fairy tale from Fantastic Films International and Dygra Films.

“Astin and Ribisi play two gopher friends whose home is threatened when an evil businesswoman (Huston) plans to tear down their forest to build a highway. With the help of an old oak tree (Perlman), the animals and their friends fight back with a vengeance.”

Said Astin of his decision to sign up for the part, “In ‘Lord of the Rings,’ my favorite element in the story was the Ents, these massive trees getting cut down that fought for their own survival; in ‘Spirit,’ the trees also come to life. It’s another way of telling a story that needs to continue to be told. Progress comes at a price.”

If Spain-based Dygra’s track record is any indication (two previous animated films have won the Spanish equivalent of an Oscar) than Spirit might be one to watch for. The film will premiere first in Spain this September before showing internationally later in the Fall.

via hollywood reporter

March 25th 2008

Razzi Snap: Walt Disney Cartoons Contain Secret Environmental Messages

Filed under: 'toons, buildings and construction, cars-houses, interviews — michael @ 3:34 pm

I don’t know how inconspicuous they were, but according to a new book, Walt Disney cartoons have helped inspire a generation of environmental conservationists through secret themes and plot lines. Titled The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation, the author explores how everything from Tarzan to Bambi “systematically encouraged generations of children to ally themselves with the natural world and protect it.” They also caused me to have a crush on that chick from Aladdin during my early years, whatever that means. [via Times Online]

Maya Karin, a popular Malaysian actress, recently allowed journalists to visit her home and check out all the cool, green improvements she’s making in her life. “What I want to do is prove that we can live the modern life and still care for the environment at the same time,” she said. “My role is to be a communicator and to get the word out about the environmental issues we face.†[read more...]

Ed Begley Jr. gave a young Leonardo DiCaprio his first ride in an electric car back in 1990…

Adam Gardner of the band Guster — and co-founder of green touring organization Reverb — once had a tour bus named “The Earth Eater”. Thankfully, he’s turned that all around and explains his environmental passions and drive to create Reverb in this great interview.

Paris Hilton once again made for a great ambassador of American education while answering questions during a press stop in South Africa. “I LOVE Africa in general, South Africa and West Africa. They are both great countries,” she said. Yes. Yes, they are.

February 7th 2008

Captain Planet Movie Rumors Get Thrown In The Trash

A hundred million souls cry out in the dark

Filed under: 'toons, film-tv, movies — michael @ 2:48 pm

Damn you Wikipedia! Damn you for raising the hopes of millions of planeteers — only to see such expectations burst. As we broke earlier last week, a little blurb found on the Wikipedia entry for Captain Planet made mention of “live-action movie currently in development and slated for a 2009 release.” As the comments showed, people were jazzed. Jonathon Morgan of the site GreenDaily even went so far as to put together a list of potential actors who might play the lead blue-skinned superhero. Alas, Grist Magazine followed up on my skepticism and pulled some journalistic strings to announce the following:

Granted, Warner Brothers might just be keeping this mega-blockbuster under wraps until it’s revealed that Alec Baldwin is Captain Planet, The Jonas Brothers along with Miley Cyrus and Paris Hilton are the Planeteers, and Al Gore will provide an informative cameo. That sounds about right. If anyone needs me, I’ll be making an update to the Wikipedia entry…

January 31st 2008

Captain Planet Live-Action Movie Coming in 2009?

Picture Al Gore in tights.

Filed under: 'toons, film-tv, movies — michael @ 11:05 am

Fire up the rumor mill, Planeteers! A recent entry to the somewhat-reliable Wikipedia info on Captain Planet (I check it everyday) says something interesting about our favorite green animated superhero.

Oh. Dead. God. They can’t be serious, can they? A live-action version of the blue-skin, green-haired protector of Mother Earth and his five planeteers? For those not hip to have caught the animated series back in 1990 (which interestingly was created by media mogul Ted Turner), here’s a small summary:

Can you imagine trying to pitch that role to a leading Hollywood actor? Who wouldn’t get in line early? We’ll keep you updated on all the latest as we get it. Screw M. Night’s The Happening. This is the real environmental film that’s going to kick some serious ass.

November 16th 2007

Disney Catches The Fuel Cell Wave

Filed under: 'toons, business, transport — michael @ 1:27 pm

This past Wednesday, the Walt Disney Company and Chevrolet announced a partnership that will see the massive entertainment corp take control of 10 zero-gas, zero-emission Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles. These alternative fuel vehicles will be used to shuttle Disney employees, celebrity talent and others within Disney-owned facilities in Southern California.

Disney’s participation comes as GM is ramping up distribution of their fuel cell technology as part of the world’s largest fuel cell vehicle test, Project Driveway. The 30-month program includes hundreds of consumers in suburban Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. who will drive these vehicles for a period of time and report their experiences to Chevrolet. From the article,

“‘We are excited to be working with Chevrolet in this important and historic effort to introduce zero-emission vehicles,’ said Lawrence Aldridge, senior vice president, Corporate Alliances, The Walt Disney Company. ‘For the last 25 years, General Motors has been an important corporate alliance partner of The Walt Disney Company, and this is a natural extension for us given Disney’s own emphasis on cutting-edge technology and environmental conservation.’”

Great to see Disney involved. They’ve received their fair share of environmental scorn over the past few years and have finally started to make some changes. Beyond a switch to biodiesel with their popular train rides (and other fuel hungry attractions), they were also recently recognized for their “green” Disney Wilderness Lodge in Florida. The hotels are using low-flow toilets and fixtures, energy-efficient lighting, environmentally preferable cleaners and recycling office paper.

Thanks Sarah!