The Green Lifestyles of Celebrities

Posted by Jamie McIntosh May 8, 2009

Newsweek recently ran a photo gallery reporting on the efforts and foibles of celebrities and their green lifestyles. We’ve always examined the private lives of celebrities under a microscope: Now, instead of seeing how they look without makeup or in a swimsuit, we get to decide if they’re eco-hypocrites as well.

For example, Madonna donates her voice to raise funds for LiveEarth, but her charitable foundation holds stock in companies that drill for oil. Then there’s Mary-Kate Olsen, who arrives at a Generation Environment dinner party in an armored SUV.

It’s fun to entertain the occasional fantasy of living as a Luddite, and shunning all trappings of modern technology. However, who can claim to live a life completely free of gasoline, oil, and coal?

I would like to own a shed full of garden tools made from hand-forged metal and sustainably harvested wood, but I still rely on my petrochemical-derived plastic trowel. I would like to have a premium reel mower, but we still use a gas-powered mower.

I’m still striving to make environmentally friendly changes in my home and garden, but meanwhile, I’m glad I don’t live under the microscope of eco-paparazzi.