Sex And The City 2 Turns Up The Fun, but it's a green "miss"

By Ann Murray

[Ann is a Hollywood entertainment reporter who currently works in-house at a Major Movie Studio]

The Sexy and successful green ladies of Los Angeles were out in full force on Friday night to celebrate the opening of ‘Sex and the City 2’ at the beautiful Shangri-la hotel in Santa Monica, sponsored by The Party Goddess.

Sexy In Abu Dhabi, Sex And The City 2

The event began with a pool-side rendezvous, where ladies mingled and took in drinks poured out of special edition SATC SKYY Vodka bottles, snapped fun pics at the SATC photo booth, were pampered with massages and gift bags, and signed up for a raffle to win signed Christian Louboutins to benefit the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Los Angeles Louboutin Shoe Raffle, Sex And The City 2 Charity Benefit, Photo courtesy Ann Murray

The night was followed by a special screening of the film at the Laemmle 5 theater.

While everyone was excited that carrie bradshaw was back in business and in a beautiful and exotic Abu Abu Dhabi, not everyone at the party agreed that the film was very environmentally friendly.

Natasha told us that she wasn’t so sure Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte needed so many cars during their desert vacation.

In one scene, the ladies are picked up by four – count em’ – four private cars to take them from the airport to their luxurious hotel. “They should have only used one car,” told us Natasha at the afterparty. “I’m not sure that was as efficient or green as it should have been. All four ladies would have fit comfortably in just one car.”

Read MORE on The Green Blog Network "Masdar City - Abu Dhabi - Models A Sustainable Globe"

 

Sex And The City at The Shangri-La Hotel, Los Angeles. Photo Courtesy Ann Murray.

Natasha’s friend Yarad suggested that the amount of food during their Abu Dhabi feast was a bit too out of touch  - particularly during  a scene when the  four ladies sit around a table with enough food fit for fifteen people. “All that food that they had, it was too much for just four women. What about the starving people around the world? or even Down the street from their hotel?” she said, adding “I would feel overwhelmed and maybe embarrassed to have all that food around.”

Was it really that necessary to drive “8 time zones” across the world – as Carrie said - to take in a little luxury? Other guests suggested Carrie and the gang should have stayed at a location closer to home and opted against carbon footprint-heavy jets, like beautiful main or New Hampshire, or even a short romp to Miami.

Sex And The City 2 shot in Abu Dhabi. Photo courtesy Ann Murray.

But there are a few things that save the film’s carbon footprint. In a key scene from the film, Carrie tells a shoe salesman that she doesn’t need a plastic bag for her new pair of incredibly inexpensive shoes, as she stuffs them in her purse.

At the afterparty, Jennifer agreed with this. “That was a great tiny step that Carrie did that makes a huge difference, because plastic bags are incredibly wasteful and take hundreds of years to break down,” she said.

Sex And The City pics. Photo courtesy Ann Murray.

And in the last few scenes of the film – scenes we don’t want to spoil  for you – Carrie and her best girlfriends show that they maybe didn’t need all of that waste after all, because all they ever really needed was back home with their friends and families.

Follow Us On Twitter@GreeningHollywd

The Green Blog Network

Greening Beauty

Greening Hollywood

Green Blog Network *  Greening Vancouver

Facebook/GreenBlogNetwork

Posted via web from The Green Blog Network

Sex And The City 2 Turns Up The Fun, but it's a green "miss"

Lady Gaga And The Military, How To Make A Good Marriage

Okay, so we're the first to admit that from time to time reporting on environmental disasters can become a bit of a downer.  So in light of that point, we acknowledge there's a need to keep us all in laughter - even if it's just so we can keep carrying on.

Please click on LINK or IMAGE below to watch the video.

Watch U.S. Military Men Spoof Lady Gaga Telephone Music Video!

These points of comic relief are in no way meant to trivialize the issues at hand, just an attempt to see the lighter side of  life's moments.

This week, we owe credit to our Military Men in Uniform for not one but two stellar examples of Military Technology put to good environmental use. [We would advocate that laughter creates positive energy. And energy is, of course, an environmental issue. J ]

In video Number One you'll see Malibu Melcher and his mates gettin' their groove on to Lady Gaga's Telephone.  Since posting last week, this Video Spoof has gotten nearly 4.4 million hits so far - that means it's gone viral. Melcher commented on a recent radio interview that he owes his sense of fun to having "Two mothers." Hnh? Two? Do the mothers know about this?!

Can't See The VIDEO? Click HERE.

In Video Number Two, you'll see A Better Marriage Blanket.  This video addresses a different sort of Greenhouse Gas Emission, indeed even a different sort of Wind Energy.

This is the brainchild of a former military man who has patented this product using military chemical weapons protection technology. In one sentence: How to sleep odor-free even after eating that can of beans!

Can't SEE THE VIDEO? Click HERE.

How To Make A Better Marriage Bed. Better Marriage Blanket Video Gone Viral!

Greening Hollywood and Green Blog Network say Thanks! Military Men in Uniform. Stay safe, stay good, and always keep your sense of humor - we love you for it and all that you do!

Follow Us On Twitter@

The Green Blog Network

Greening Hollywood

Green Blog Network *  Greening Vancouver

FaceBook/GreenBlogNetwork

Posted via web from The Green Blog Network

Lady Gaga And The Military, How To Make A Good Marriage

Fran's Clean Cars Rule!

Senator Pavley with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson at White House announcement of new federal emission standard for cars based on Pavley's bill.

Picture Gallery Here >>>

California's 2002 law, AB 1493 by then Assemblymember Fran Pavley, (now Senator Pavley), allows California to enact and enforce emissions standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. But we had to fight for that right.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been one of the biggest champions of the law, if not the biggest,  had this to say after the Obama Administration announced it has adopted a clean cars rule modeled after California's first-in-the-nation vehicle emissions standard:

"Thanks to the leadership of the White House, the federal government is following California's example and announcing tough national standards for cleaner cars. These new nationwide standards will drive car companies to provide cleaner automobiles that will create jobs and save consumers money at the pump. This is not only great news for consumers who will see a wider choice of clean, efficient cars in their showrooms, but also for all Americans who will see lower emissions, better environmental protection and greater energy security."

Since taking office, the Governor has aggressively pursued the enforcement of California's 2002 law, AB 1493 by then Assemblymember (now Senator) Fran Pavley, which allows California, independent of the Federal Government,  to enact and enforce emissions standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. The state filed a lawsuit against the U.S. EPA in 2008 to overturn its decision denying California's waiver request to enforce the state's emission standards after the California Air Resources Board requested the waiver in 2005. The U.S. EPA granted California's waiver in June 2009.  For a complete chronology on the bill, Click HERE >>>.

Follow Us On Twitter@

The Green Blog Network *  Greening Hollywood

Green Blog Network *  Greening Vancouver

Posted via web from The Green Blog Network

Fran's Clean Cars Rule!

The West Is The Best

The West is the Best? Leaking carbon from the patchwork quilt

By Adam Bumpus Mar 24, 2010

A patchwork of climate regulation may be a way forward in the wake of COP15 and the US rejection of economy wide cap and trade at the federal level. Individual systems must be joined or harmonized across space to avoid leakage in the gaps.

Movements at the federal level in the US have shown that a nationwide cap and trade system – recently thought to be virtually inevitable – is “dead”, in the words of Senator Graham, a proponent of a new climate bill (see here). The senate simply did not have enough political votes in favour of cap and trade for nationwide regulation to pass. As we saw in Copenhagen (see here), the binding agreements that cover countries and societies that are economically linked are hard to come by. There are too many interests that pull such complex negotiations toward stalemates, even though the multinational companies that link many of these economies may be helped by comprehensive climate policy (see here). Instead, we end up with a variety of regional initiatives that create regulations in one area, none in another and, at the moment, are not harmonized to create comprehensive coverage. The patchwork quilt of carbon reductions has some distinctly large gaps in it.
While DC figures out what a comprehensive climate bill might look like, regional efforts continue apace, defining emissions reductions and placing a price on carbon. The Western Climate Initiative signed by independent jurisdictions, states, provinces and Native Sovereign Nations (see here) aims to put a price on carbon by 2012 with its own cap and trade system. It will be four times bigger than any existing cap and trade systems in the US (see here). Good news: pretty comprehensive cover for these jurisdictions: reducing emissions and spurring the green economy.

Western Climate Initiative connects into the eastern electricity markets and creates opportunities for carbon leakage.

But, recent WCI analysis has pointed to the fact that because of the way WCI jurisdictions in the East (see attached picture) trade electricity with the Eastern states (Eastern Interconnection), an increase in the price of carbon in WCI jurisdictions (and therefore short term electricity prices), means fewer electricity exports (see here). Therefore non-WCI electricity generation and carbon emissions go up. This is known as leakage (emissions ‘leak’ out of an area not covered by regulation). However, if the WCI jurisdiction places an energy import tariff (what is called in the report: FJD, First Jurisdictional Deliverer) on non-WCI energy (i.e. east to west electricity), leakage is reduced because non-WCI energy becomes less competitive to import. Interestingly, the reductions in non-WCI emissions weren’t affected by the amount of the tariff – as long as it was there, leakage would be reduced, but never eliminated. Where there is a price on CO2 allowances in the WCI, even import tariffs won’t eliminate increased emissions in the East. As the study shows, the best way to reduce overall emissions is by linking with other regulatory schemes (such as the RGGI, MGGRA – see here for overview), or a federal system that places a price on carbon everywhere. >>> READ MORE HERE >>>
Adam Bumpus is pursuing Advanced Research Work with the distinguished Sauder School of Business UBC.

Follow Us On Twitter@

The Green Blog Network *  Greening Hollywood

Green Blog Network *  Greening Vancouver

Posted via web from The Green Blog Network

The West Is The Best

Ice Matters

By Paige Donner

Winter Olympics 2010, The Green Games

Up in Canada where ice is integral to lifestyle and where, during these 2010 Winter Olympics, it's all about ice - ice hockey, ice skating, curling, luge, skeleton, skiing, bobsleigh ... ice...ice...snow and more ice...Ice really matters.
But there's a whole other reason why ice matters and matters in a big way. And that's because ice is melting.
James Balog, Artist, Scientist, Explorer and Adventurer has produced his Extreme Ice Survey, a compelling time-lapse photographic presentation depicting the world's ice melting at a speed heretofore unimagined. Balog is Olympic 2010 sponsor, Samsung Corporation's, Eco-Ambassador.

James Balog Presents Extreme Ice Survey at Samsung Rendezvous to Vancouver School Children, Winter Games 2010

On February 16th, Canada's Federal Government Minister of Environment, Jim Prentice [Twitter @JimPrentice] announced that they would offset the estimated 7,600 tons of GHG emissions created by the thousands of government employees participating/volunteering in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter games.
“Canada is proud to be the first host country in history to help offset the greenhouse gas emissions of its Olympic Games,” said Minister Prentice. “This commitment is one of many ways our Government is contributing to sustainable Games and meeting our global climate change responsibilities.”
And while we all know, somewhere in our brains, that these numbers are significant and meaningful, it's the visuals that really sink in.
And here's where James Balog, a world-renowned nature photographer, can communicate the urgent nature of the state of our affairs so graphically. With his Extreme Ice Survey.
“Ice is the canary in the coal mine," said Balog in his TED Global talk delivered in Oxford, England a few months ago.  More recently at Vancouver's Live City he explained, "We are able to communicate the reality of Climate Change through our Extreme Ice Survey (.org) time-lapse photography essays."
"We are encouraging government leaders to allow us to bring out the story of what the cameras are seeing," noted Balog.
Balog has shown his Extreme Ice Survey to audiences as varied as sophisticated scientific minds at NASA to academics at Oxford to...kids from Vancouver's Mackenzie Elementary School (pictured above in their February 23rd Eco Classroom led by Balog).
"When people see my photography of landscapes melting, they understand it immediately. From the time you are one-years-old, everyone understands melting ice. From the moment you feel an ice cube melt on your tongue, you understand the concept that warmth melts ice," explains Balog.
Why does the melting of glaciers matter? Because they offer a tangible, visible manifestation of a dramatic change in climate that's underway.
It's a worldwide change; Glaciers are the visible manifestation.
Photographic documentation also provided undeniable evidence for these claims. Evidence that flies in the face of the Climate Deniers.
"Climate Gate was a ridiculously absurd and overblown event. It was a campaign of confusion and misinformation. The Climate Change deniers stepped up their game right before the Copenhagen Conference," said Balog.
"Scientists are not wild-eyed radicals. They are everything but. History is going to judge the Climate Deniers as irresponsible, criminal even."
"There are people who say that Obama is selling off the future of the U.S. with his big spending campaign. Climate Change Deniers are selling off the the future of our Earth's resources," says Balog. "You can liken the campaign of today's Climate Change Deniers with the cigarette companies of a couple decades ago. The more the status quo makes money in their status quo industries, the more they want to preserve the status quo."
Even giants such as Microsoft's Bill Gates has gotten on board with the cause of climate change. At lat week's TED conference in Long Beach, California, he said that climate change is the world's "most vexing problem," and expounded on the need to find a cheap and clean energy source, saying it is even more important than creating new vaccines and improving farming techniques.
For artist-adventurer James Balog, with the backing of a global electronics leader such as Samsung, he now has the means to spread his message wide and far.  His EIS has already been the subject of  a Nova/PBS TV special and a new book, Extreme Ice Now.
Balog on Photography:

We've been finding that visuals presented properly can captivate people in a way that the qualitative cannot. Visuals makes it real.
Eyes are the primary organ of human perception.
Numbers are an abstraction. Numbers must be processed by the brain and then interpreted. Only a small percentage of the population really speak the language of numbers easily.
Everyone gets the eye/visual thing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaTcsyNrEec]
To SEE the VIDEO Click HERE
Balog says that  British Columbia is one of the world's regions on the front lines of climate change.  A private foundation recently funded a reconaissance aerial tour to observe the area between between Mt. Garibaldi and Mt. Waddington.  He admitted that he was "stunned" to discover the amount of glacial retreat there was.  He said he had never seen such dramatic change in landscape. “I have seen a lot of changing mountains but I have not seen such a change like this,” said Balog.
With his Extreme Ice Survey organization, James Balog monitors other key areas of the globe:  "We have time-lapse cameras posted in the Andes, Alps, Iceland,Greenland, N. Rockies U.S., and Alaska."
Canada's Minister of Environment Prentice said, “In addition to promoting sustainability at the Games, these innovative approaches will also showcase Canadian environmental technology and ingenuity to the world.”
More of VANOC's [Vancouver Olympic Committee] and Canada's Olympic environmental initiatives:

• Environmental assessments of Olymipic venue sites to reduce the ecological footprint of the Games;
• The Canada Line representing 19 kilometers rail transit system that links downtown Vancouver with central Richmond and the Vancouver International Airport funded under the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Program;
• The BC Hydrogen Highway project showcasing hydrogen and fuel-cell technology including fuel-cell vehicles and fuelling stations, and;
• The wave roof of the Richmond Oval made from recycled wood from trees destroyed by pine beetles.

Read More Here

Greening Vancouver * Green Blog Network * Greening Hollywood

The Green Blog Network * Greening Vancouver

Green Blog Network Sponsored in part by:

Posted via web from The Green Blog Network

Follow Us On Twitter@GreeningHollywd

The Green Blog Network

Green Blog Network * Greening Hollywood

Greening Vancouver

Greening Beauty

Facebook/GreenBlogNetwork

Ice Matters