ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

November 14th 2008

Madonna Asks Fans To Get Involved Building School In Malwai

Filed under: campaigns, web — parrish @ 12:28 pm

Shortly after Madonna penned that list of crazy demands for her ex-husband, she’s asking her fans to get involved in a way that’s not so crazy.

M-dog wants your help to build a girls school in Malawi and has recorded a short video message on her website all about it. In the video, Madonna says: “There are very few girls in Africa in general who are encouraged or allowed to go to secondary schools so, after spending a lot of time there, I realized that one of the ways I could help was to build a girls school.

“I would really be grateful if you would get involved and help me in any way you can with donations, spreading the word, visiting my website, reading about the progress we’ve made so far. Please visit our website. I would appreciate any help you could give us.”

We love the fact that Madonna is asking people to get involved in making the world a better place and think that even though she’s a little nutsy, sometimes a little nutsy ain’t such a bad thing! To watch the video for yourself, visit Madonna.com!

November 12th 2008

Madonna Insists Children Eat Macrobiotic, Vegetarian, Organic Diet

Filed under: food & drink — parrish @ 2:25 pm

As Madonna and Guy Richie end their marriage and the child custody battle begins, we here at the Razz are entertained/impressed with Madonna’s “list of demands†that she’s requiring Guy Ritchie to follow while with the children. If this whole “list thing” sounds familiar, you might remember that Heather Mills made a similar 8-page set of rules for Sir Paul after their divorce.

Some of the rules Madge has dreamt up seem silly, like: Guy can’t introduce the kids to any “new friends” or be photographed with the kids. But other rules — like having the kids stick to a macrobiotic, vegetarian and organic diet —  seem pretty groovy. Madonna, however, does demand that the children only drink Kabbalah water – which we’ve already reported is super wasteful and super expensive.

The requests continue with things like: No reading of newspapers or magazines and no watching TV or DVDs. All clothes must be 100 percent natural. Toys must be spiritually and ethically sound. Madonna must be able to speak to her brood three times a day. Bedtime stories for David must be from Madge’s English Rose books. Guy must not discuss the break-up. And finally, when the children are out in public their hands must be cleaned with disinfectant spray.

What do you think about all these rules? Are they good for the kids or too restrictive? Chime in and share your thoughts!

via: smh.com

November 5th 2008

Rihanna Promotes UNICEF With Gucci

Filed under: campaigns, donations, fashion — sara @ 4:49 pm

I’ve never bought anything Gucci in my life, but I’m becoming a fan.

You might remember that PETA took the company on last spring for selling boots lined in seal fur (just typing that made my stomach churn…) and won. Gucci agreed to stop selling such a monstrous product.

Then, they became a sponsor of UNICEF. This sponsorship made activists very skeptical, as it seemed a frivolous gesture to tug a few public heartstrings from such an opulent company (not to mention its shady Madonna benefit), but I am a huge fan of UNICEF. So I still got excited when I saw that Gucci has a new line coming out with 25% of every purchase going to UNICEF. I don’t think that’s as much as the RED campaign, but damn, that IS a chunk of change for a large company to agree to give.

These products, featured in the “Tattoo Heart Campaign,” are being promoted by Rihanna. Hopefully she’ll do the cause a bit more justice than Madonna did… Gucci brought her on board after seeing the singer at a UNICEF benefit, so it sounds like her heart is in the right place.

Image via teendiariesonline.com

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?

September 19th 2008

Madonna’s “Get Stupid” Video Tells Us To Act

Damnit, I wish she would listen to her own message.

Filed under: music — michael @ 3:52 pm

Last month, I noted the irony of Madonna’s tour showing her “Get Stupid” video featuring montages of the Earth’s destruction — while simultaneously contributing to that very act. As far as we, or anyone else can tell, the material girl has done absolutely nothing with her “Sticky and Sweet” tour to take the sustainable high road.

Which makes this video all the more maddening.

Thanks Linton!

September 17th 2008

The Green Picture: Guy Ritchie Rides Again!

Filed under: cars-houses, thegreenpicture, transport — michael @ 4:20 pm

Madonna’s husband, Guy Ritchie, was spotted riding a bicycle outside his London home yesterday. His upcoming movie RocknRolla stars Gerard Butler as a mob tough named One Two. Look for it this fall.

Photo Credit: Goff/INFphoto.com

August 30th 2008

As Madonna’s Carbon Blitzkrieg Continues, Swiss Fans Counter With Green Transport

Filed under: music — michael @ 11:03 am

In light of even more details being revealed regarding Madonna’s “Sticky and Sweet” tour entourage, it’s good to see at least one bright spot of sustainability making an appearance.

Tonight, the 50-city tour will roll into Zurich, Switzerland and the 50-year-old singer will take to the stage in front of an expected 73,000 fans. The good news? A large majority of those fans will all take public transportation to the concert. In fact, all concert tickets include return travel by train. How cool is that? The demand is expected to be so great, that the Swiss Federal Railways is laying on 130 extra trains to cope.

Would be kind of cool if all cities comped rides on public transportation to and from major concerts to reduce the environmental impact.

Anyways, on the other side of the issue, Madonna’s tour apparently features 60 trucks, 15 buses and a team of 250 people. She has a 1,000 square foot building constructed wherever she goes to hold her 3,500 wardrobe items, and also 12 travelling trampolines.

Who has 12 trampolines?! I mean, I would love to set them up in a circle and bounce around baseball field or something — but seriously?

Enjoy the concert tonight, Switzerland. And thanks for at least reducing your own environmental impact for the show.

via swissinfo

Thanks to Schibli for the tip!

August 25th 2008

Madonna Plugs Global Warming Activism On Monster Carbon Tour

Filed under: music, not green — michael @ 2:27 pm

Back in May, when details of Madonna’s latest tour were revealed, we bitched that the material girl had absolutely nothing in the press release to indicate her green promises of yesteryear. At Live Earth 2007, the legendary singer had publicly stated that going forward her carbon footprint would be reduced. Now, with the tour underway, it appears that she needs larger shoes.

Environmental organizations got into the commenting zone last week when Madonna’s crew publicly released the amount of crap and resources going into her “Sticky and Sweet” tour. In particular, the peeps over at CarbonFootprint.com released figures showing that her 45-day concert extravaganza is equivalent to the carbon output of around 160 Britons — in one year.

Most of this might have been curbed had Madonna has the sense of mind to assign a green music organization — such as Reverb — to making sure her tour embraced some sustainable options for dealing with its consumption. A great game plan for convincing the thousands of concert-goers to reduce their own footprints would also have been useful.

Even odder? Madonna is plugging Global Warming activism on her tour!! In a video interlude of her song “Get Stupid”, she flashes several images of the planet being harmed — with slices of it slowly being taken away. There are even flashes of Al Gore on screen, along with those of Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon, and Barack Obama. For some reason, she also grouped John McCain in with a montage that features Hitler. Really?!

The video also features the words “ACT!” at random intervals — something we wish Madonna had thought of after creating it. Not backing up her promises to help the world — and only pontificating on the subject — makes her more of a liability to the green movement and less of a driving force.

Click here to check out the video interlude being featured on Madonna’s tour…

August 11th 2008

A-Rod Giving Up $500,000 For Madonna’s Charity

Filed under: donations — michael @ 3:42 pm

Considering the amount of flak lately swirling around New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez and Madonna, you could make several conjectures based on this charitable news.

It’s been announced that Alex Rodriguez will be donating $500,000 to Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity. The legendary singer founded the organization to assist the African country’s 1 million orphans with food, medicine and education.

“They’ve asked him for a million dollars, and I hear he’s agreed to give at least $500,000,” a source told the New York Daily News. Considering that A-Rod is the highest paid player in baseball — with a 10-year, $275 million contract — this generosity is a drop in the bucket.

Rumors persist as to the involvement of Rodriguez with Madonna — with divorce papers being filed and attorneys for A-Rod’s wife claiming that he “had an affair of the heart” with the singer. Could this cash be a way of saying “sorry” for that information being leaked?

Either way, Malawian kids stand to benefit. Of course, we’re not even sure if it’s a real charity yet…

via US Weekly

August 8th 2008

Madonna’s Documentary I Am Because We Are Will Be Turned Into Book

Filed under: books, film-tv, movies — parrish @ 12:42 pm

Just a few days ago Ecorazzi shared with you a picture of Michael Moore and Madonna outside of a screening of I Am Because We Are, a documentary written and directed by Madge detailing the plight of orphans in Malawai.

Now it looks like Madonna is taking it a step further and turning her documentary into a book! So far the literary version of I Am Because We Are is being described as a “book of images by award-winning photojournalist Kristen Ashburn–culled from her own work in Malawi and Africa over the past seven years as well as from her specially commissioned photographs for the film–provides an intimate look at the lives of eight Malawian children featured in the film and reveals the harsh reality of the AIDS pandemic throughout southern Africa.”

All the proceeds from the book will, of course, be donated to the Raising Malawi organization, to continue to help orphans in need. Madonna has been a driving force in the revitalization of Malawi and even plans on opening a school there later this year. To learn more about the organization, visit RaisingMalawi.org.