South Park is best known for its dark, politically incorrect humor, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park seem to environmentally correct, at least for some part of it. The duo recently gave the world a peek at their Colorado Gateway retreat. The retreat is built in an environmentally friendly, sustainable way.

Built by a firm called Trilogy Partners, the home has a number of sustainable parts to show off. Exterior siding and interior flooring for the home is made of reclaimed wood, it has recycled carpeting, and the beams supporting the ceiling had their previous life at a railroad trestle.

Energy efficient systems are also at work in the home, with high-efficiency boiler systems, energy-efficient insulation, and radiating heating that can be shut off for unoccupied zones. The huge house of course has a lot of environment friendliness to show, though it may not actually be all that green considering it is used only for a few days in the year, and the big house would be an energy sucker when occupied. But then it is built sustainably, and that’s a good start.

Source: Ecorazzi

Elizabeth Hurley, it appears, has moved to the countryside, and she’s cooking up new recipes there. The famed personality has caught hold of 400 acres of that’s working and even has sheep and cattle. While the glamorous farm girl is away from London, she’s been creating a couple of new low fat eatables to float into the market.

She plans to sell an organic snack bar, using oats from her own farm and with the calorie count well below 100. The oat snack bar will be accompanied by a fruit snack bar, and both will have the approval of the Soil Association. The fruit bars will be available in two flavors, strawberry-cherry and orange-cranberry. The oat bars will have banana-chocolate and orange-chocolate flavors.

But that is not all. Liz says her 10 years in Los Angeles gave her a love for beef jerky, so she has also come up with bags of beef jerky. This one is a high protein, low fat snack with each bag counting for only 74 calories. And what could be a better endorsement than Liz herself proclaiming that she lost 12 pounds while munching on her beef jerky.

Source: TreeHugger

Prince Albert II of Monaco is actively involved in conservation of the environment, and the Prince Albert II Foundation has 127 projects in various countries, dedicated to working towards renewable energy and access to water, and also fighting threats like desertification, loss of biodiversity and climate change.

The Prince recently went on record saying that the society should give up its obsession with consumption and consumerism, and that we should all take time to reflect on how are actions and daily life affect our world. Prince Albert said that people should do whatever is within their resources to work of the cause of the environment.

Whenever possible, or feasible, people could contribute with things like money, time, resources, or even inspirational acts, deeds, songs or words. Coming from a prince, these words do have a lot of weight, and perhaps point to a future where the leadership, both international and national, will be willing to invest resources for the environment, seriously and apolitically.

Source: ecorazzi

To combat the problem, Matt Damon announced at the Clinton Global Initiative that his charity Water.org will commit $2million towards the cause. The charity will help secure safe water and sanitation for nearly 50,000 people in Haiti and the project will be executed over 3 years.

To help raise the money and awareness, Water.org has launched an innovative social media campaign. User can connect via Facebook or Twitter, and they can choose to either donate money or “spread the word”, thus getting more people in on the act. There’s a point system that adds points everytime a user donates or invites a friend to join. These points appear to be simple numbers and rankings, and it is very unlikely that they will have any use other than that.

[via Ecorazzi]

Bollywood actress and former Miss World, Priyanka Chopra, has been roped in by India’s news Channel NDTV as the brand ambassador for the 2nd wave of their ”Green Campaign”,

NDTV’s Green Campaign is aimed at encouraging every Indian citizen to adopt clauses like Say No To Plastic Bags, ‘Save Water, Plant A Tree, Get Rid of Air Pollution and Save India’s Coastal Lines and Save the Rivers in an effort for a cleaner and greener tomorrow. Kind of like our environmental slogans …

”My decision to be a part of the ‘Greenathon’ campaign is to show that as a representative of the younger generation of today, which drives all of us, I want to do something for the cause of environment.”

As a campaign ambassador, my endeavor will be to demonstrate to the youth how little things that we do to help preserve the environment can sometimes do wonders.” Priyanka said in a press conference organized by NDTV

This is the 2nd year of the NDTV Green Campaign which follows a grand first year in which they raised over Rs 2 crore INR to light up 50 villages in India for TERI’s ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ project.

”The fact that 400 million people in this country are still without electricity is a matter of concern for all of us. By the end of this year, we hope to provide a solar lantern in 250 million villages through the Green Campaign,” said NDTV’s Dr Pachauri.

Congratulations!

Former Miss World and Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai has reportedly fallen ill and there are rumors  that she may have contracted swine flu.

Aishwarya may be the latest victim of the wildly spreading Swine Flu

The news of  Aishwarya’s illness was disclosed by her father in law Amitabh Bachchan thru his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com, the post said

“Aishwarya has taken ill and is down with chest infection and flu like symptoms”,  “had a high fever yesterday but is settling down today” he wrote on his blog from Singapore.

Bachchan also wrote that  “It’s worrying to be so far away from children and not be there to look after them. Yes, they are mature and married and responsible, but children will always remain children!”

Check Out the Remedies to Prevent Swine Flu

Aishwarya Rai along with husband Abhishek Bachan is currently in Ooty and was shooting for her upcoming film “Raavan“.

Malia Obama's peacenik t-shirt

The T-shirt is an anti-nuclear message with its famous logo from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Now, if that nuclear power was being used for energy purposes and to reduce our global dependence on fossil fuels. All the better. I wonder how that idea would be represented on a T-shirt?

He has renamed the course that he bought – Woodstock Hills – as Mirimichi Golf Course.  It opens on July 25, 2009

Timberlake says he wants to turn Mirimichi Golf Course – which recently became the first project in the United States to receive the Audubon International’s Classic Sanctuary certification – into the “greenest golfing destination in the United States.”

Here are some of the green features of Mirimichi Golf Course: The course’s irrigation and drainage systems re-use and maximize the use of rainwater; native grass areas and waste-bunkers help cut the amount of property that has to be maintained; more lake areas and re-circulating streams support wildlife; and there is a Natural Resource Management Center for biodegradable treatment of rinse water.

Timberlake says he will also add a fleet of electric golf-carts powered by solar panels, in addition to a LEED-certified clubhouse and food and beverage operations which use recycled and biodegradable materials.

All these green measures are aimed at making Mirimichi Golf Course ultimately the world’s first golf course to calculate its own carbon footprint.

“We have so suddenly lost,” Tippi Hedren was quoted as saying, “one of the most beautiful and enchanting entertainers on our planet.”

According to Tippi, Michael Jackson was not only loved by the people of the world for his incomparable talent but was also loved by the wild animals. At the Neverland Ranch, she added, Jackson provided the most beautiful home for those magnificent wild creatures.

Tippi Hedren is set to take care of Michael Jackson’s much-loved tigers, Thriller and Sabu.

The campaign, named Meat-Free Monday, is aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse-gases from the world’s livestock population. Livestock is believed to be one of the main causes of global warming.

In an interview, Sir Paul McCartney told The Independent newspaper of Britain that having one designated meat-free day a week is a meaningful change that everyone can make and that “this goes to the heart of several important political, environmental and ethical issues all at once.”

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that production of meat is responsible for 18% of greenhouse-gas emissions. Compare this with an estimated 13% of greenhouse-gas emissions from transport!

Linda, former wife of Sir Paul, was an active campaigner for vegetarianism till she died in 1998. An array of meat-free dishes bearing Linda’s name are still being sold.

Besides Sir Paul’s daughters – fashion designer Stella and photographer Mary – the celebrities who are backing the Meat-Free Monday campaign include the Coldplay band’s lead singer Chris Martin, Hollywood stars Kevin Spacey and Woody Harrelson, actress Joanna Lumley, and billionaire-tycoon Sir Richard Branson.

Well, Monday is a great day to start with – then there is Tuesday, Wednesday…

We shall wait for more meat-free days.

[via Telegraph] Image courtesy of drinksmachine