For those of you not fortunate enough to be on this year’s guest list (or able to pay $500 for a ticket) G Living will be your eyes and ears at this year’s 17th annual Environmental Media Awards (EMAs). We are taking G LIVING’s REAL G on location, couch and all. We will make sure Nobel Prize winner, Former Vice President Al Gore, and all his Hollywood friends get cozy on the G Living Couch and get real!

So, you are saying to yourself, what EMA Awards? Well, if you haven’t been neck deep in the green movement for the last few years, you may not have heard of the EMAs, but now that the world is melting, it’s time you do. First presented in 1991, the EMAs honor film and television personalities, shows, musical artists and tours that increase public awareness of environmental issues and inspire positive action. Nominees are singled out for their story lines, environmental practices or role modeling in either their professional or personal lives.

The Environmental Media Association was the first organization to link the power of celebrity to environmental awareness. They also created the “green carpet,” inviting attendees to arrive at their annual awards show in a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle rather than a limo.

This year’s honorees are Trudie Styler, Al Gore, Kevin Wall, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc., Sienna Miller and Incubus.

Past honorees include Keely and Pierce Brosnan, Jayni and Chevy Chase, Blythe Danner, Dave Matthews Band, Daryl Hannah, Maroon 5, Alanis Morissette, Willie Nelson, Edward Norton, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rob Reiner and John Travolta.

For a complete list of nominees or to read more about the Environmental Media Association, click here.

In addition to G Living’s coverage, the EMAs will air on E! Entertainment Television and BBC International, premiering November 7, 2007.

By Sarah Backhouse for Coco Eco Magazine, Photography by Rachel Schwarz, Styling by Michele Lianos, Make Up by Julianne Kaye, Hair by Tony at Photogenics

Young Hollywood is mostly synonymous with a bunch of vacuous brats who are “green” because Leo is or because their publicists told them to. So it was refreshing to meet actress Rachel Leigh Cook – a clever, candid and considered actress who had obviously given real thought to the threat of climate change. Fresh-faced, doe-eyed and skewing much younger than her almost 30 years, Rachel Leigh Cook reminded me of a young Winona Ryder. Eyes aside, what struck me most about Cook was her laid-back, unassuming attitude and oodles of patience, which unbeknownst to her, was soon to be tested.

Anyone who’s worked in production knows what it’s like when things don’t go according to plan. It’s annoying. As annoying as say a petroleum-fuelled blower within ear, nose and throat shot. The day of Rachel Leigh Cook’s cover shoot was just one of those days. Unforeseen construction on Malibu beach lead to a last minute change of location, which meant moving ten people, a ton of gear and what seemed like 75 cars, ten miles up the Pacific Coast Highway to stunningly remote beach location with zilch parking, zero restrooms and no cell phone reception. Add to that. mislaid gear, hell-ish school holiday traffic and some horribly lost crewmembers and you get the picture. Anyone with slightly diva-esque tendencies had already lost it. But this isn’t about me. To her credit, Cook remained calm and good-humored throughout.

Cook maybe best known for her lead role in the 1999 hit movie, She’s All That, but has an impressive resume of film and TV credits including: Nancy Drew, Blonde Ambition, Las Vegas, Dawson’s Creek and Josie and the Pussycats. An early performance for the PSA, Your Brain is On Drugs, showcased her acting chops and impressive frying pan-wielding skills. A native of Minnesota, Cook now resides in Los Angeles with her Canadian born, New Zealand raised actor/director husband, Daniel Gillies, her two dogs and her vegetarian lifestyle. Here are Cook’s thoughtful answers to my interview questions, conducted at above-mentioned remote location with recording equipment in the back of an illegally parked hot Prius.

Sarah: How long have you been green?

Rachel: I don’t know if I could consider myself fully green. When I think of someone as being “green”, I think of the ideal carbon neutral life and I don’t know if I’m there yet. I think I’m aspiring green.

Sarah: And why are you aspiring?

Rachel: It’s the right thing to do. I’m consistently surprised to see people who want to tempt fate with their beliefs about the myth of global warming. That’s really terrifying to me. So I think I have to over compensate for some people who aren’t with the program.

Sarah: What green stuff do you do?

Rachel: I’m a borderline obsessive-compulsive recycler. That’s probably my main green effort. I can’t even throw the lid to a soda cup at a movie theater in the garbage can when I’m done. I will shake it off and wipe it on my jeans and put in my purse and recycle it when I go home. I can’t consciously not recycle. So little things like that. I’m going to try to compost. My pickier neighbor has since moved away, so if my efforts are a bit smelly I think my new neighbors will understand.

Sarah: 25% of all household waste is compostable, so your efforts will make a difference. How long have you been a vegetarian?

Rachel: Let’s see….it’ll be almost sixteen years. I’ll be 30 in October and I guess I was 14, 15 when I started that. I was thrilled to find out that being a vegetarian was such a good, green thing to do. I heard people who were regular meat eaters produce a ton of carbon emissions a year. And that really blew my mind. Being vegetarian is not for everybody. I’m not a pusher of it. I do partake in some leather goods but I don’t feel too horrible about that because the animal probably got eaten.

Sarah: Would you ever consider going vegan?

Rachel: I think that seems like a lot of work. And I like cheese too much.

Sarah: Do you support any causes?

Rachel: I definitely like to get the word out on green fashion. Why not? When you can do something that’s more globally conscious and help out our economy. I’m really impressed by this publication and I’m learning a lot from it already.

Sarah: How do you think Obama is doing on the environment?

Rachel: I think one of his campaign platforms was to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050? And I love that he wants the US to make the green cars of the future. I think that’s so smart. In the meantime, what he’s doing with healthcare is so incredibly important. I think it’s good that green is working at a grassroots level. Of course, we need the government to push these things through the legislature and make real action. But 1% at a time is the way it’s really going to happen.

Sarah: Describe your style: what are you wearing right now?

Rachel: Oh gosh, I don’t know. Probably H&M shirt, BCBG shorts that I love…. I’m excited about the clothes (for today’s shoot). My style is about anything that can survive having a lot of dog hair on it. I wish that there were something productive we could do with all of the hair that my animals are producing.

Sarah: You can compost hair…

Rachel: That’s right. I heard it’s a good fertilizer… I have a lot of fertilizer for anyone who needs it.

Sarah: What’s in your make-up bag?

Rachel: I have no idea. Probably the only I don’t leave home without is concealer and chapstick. That’s about all you need.

Sarah: That’s certainly all you need.

Sarah: Favorite place in whole world and why?

Rachel: I have a real sentimental attachment to Minnesota. I grew up in Minneapolis and love the lakes around there and the house I grew up in. I guess it’s just a sentimental thing, it’s hard to describe why.

Sarah: If you could instantly make one thing on the earth disappear, what would it be?

Rachel: That plastic island that’s floating in the ocean that’s miles wide and miles deep…

Sarah: I heard it’s twice the size of Texas?

Rachel: Yeah, it blew my mind. I would banish plastic bags.

Sarah: Okay, now the fun part. I’ve got some hypotheticals for you… Scenario number one: You’re out walking your two dogs and you see another dog poo but its owner doesn’t pick it up, what do you do?

Rachel: Sorry, I’m not…(laughs). Okay here’s what I will do: my husband does have something called the karma poo. If you run out of bags and you can’t pick up your own dog’s poo; when you do have more bags, you have to pick up somebody elses. But with my dogs, I always pick up. We use biodegradable bags too. So in terms of stranger poo. No. You’re on your own. Terribly sorry.

Sarah: Scenario number two: You’ve got an audition with Scorsese. But the only way to get there is in your girlfriend’s Hummer, what do you do?

Rachel: Wow. Well you gotta take it. How far is it? Could I possibly walk? Well if I had to ride in the Hummer I certainly wouldn’t let anybody there see me in it, because that’s disgraceful. I’d probably have her drop me off around the corner.

Sarah: On to work now — what project has been the most rewarding to date?

Rachel: Working with my husband on a movie he’s written and is now directing. We’re about midway through shooting. It’s called Broken Kingdom. It takes place both in Los Angeles and in Bogota, Columbia. It’s his goal to put a spotlight on third world countries that are in our backyard. The story is largely about the people of Bogota and some of their struggles, not just with living in that country, but of their everyday lives. It’s a really special project because it has such a global perspective. I think in the West it’s really easy for people just to deal with their daily everyday needs and not really see what a big place this world is. He’s a warrior and very much a humanitarian and I think that his film can do a lot of good for a lot of people.

Sarah: What project are you working on now?

Rachel: Right now I’m about to go back to work on a show called Psych, which is on USA Networks. It’s in its fourth season and I’m the girlfriend of the main character who is a fake psychic detective. The main character is played by an actor called James Roday. The show’s mostly a two-hander between him and another actor, who I just love, named Dule Hill. I worked with him back in ‘98 on a movie called She’s All That, a million years ago. He’s from West Wing and numerous other things but he’s brilliant at comedy. They’re a great duo. The show is a lot of fun to work on, the people are great, it’s a laid back set. It’s been a great experience.

Sarah: What will we see you in next?

Rachel: Probably Psych, which premieres on August 7th. And you’ll be hearing me in Titan Maximum, which is an animated show that my friends Seth Green and Matt Senreich co-created on Cartoon Network. We’ve recorded a season’s worth of episodes, which has been great fun. The show premieres later this year. I’m excited about it.

Interview completed, Cook politely steps out of the car and patiently waits some more, until finally it’s time to head down a precarious pathway to a stunning beachy backdrop for her long-awaited cover shoot. Leaving me with the impression that: she really is all that.

Coco Eco Magazine, an online magazine by Anna Griffin. Founded in September 2008, this is the modern girl’s style guide on the road to being gorgeous, glamorous and green, and your new source of everything eco-chic, that’s good for our planet, and good for you too.

Read the full magazine at: cocoecomag.com

The Star of the hit show Bones on the Fox Network gets straight to the Green Point. Driving a hybrid and recycling are great, but they are a drop in the bucket compared to just stop eating meat. The impact of raising and killing billions of animals every year for the standard meat based diet is massive. Basically you could be a complete ass in every other aspect of your life, as long as changed to a vegan diet and you could consider your self a super green god. Pretty cool, right!

Here is Emily on her show Bones.

To help get you started on your vegan makeover, head over to our GreenChefs section. We have tons of amazing completely vegan recipes by some of the top GreenChefs on the planet. Also, checkout our GreenChefs Shows in the shows section. The chefs make the recipes for you in our GreenChefs kitchen here at G Living. See, this is going to be a piece of cake. You will be a super green vegan in no time. Don’t you feel special now?

Not sure who’s influencing Jennifer Aniston these days — some claim it’s Julia Roberts, whose $30 million California mansion underwent an extensive greenovation. Others say it’s her squeeze du jour John Mayer, who wrote in his blog last year that he takes in “a laid-back, panic free approach to environmentalism… a side free from the cry of hypocrisy, for it doesn’t make sweeping promises.” Or she could be taking a page or two from The Book of Brad, whose tireless efforts to rebuild New Orleans are plenty inspirational.

While the source may not be certain, what we know for sure (because it comes from the pages of the current Star magazine) is that Jennifer Aniston is “is planning to shell out some major green to build an eco-friendly home in Malibu.”

What I love most about Star is that it’s always full of good quotes that are attributed to either “a friend”, “a pal” or simply “a source”. In this case it’s a “pal” of Jen’s who explains the motivation behind her new eco-dream house: “Jen wants to help the environment and she has the money.”

The new pad will have “a solar-heating system, drought-resistant plants, all organic materials, plus an ocean view”, says the magazine. And evidently she’ll have lots of time to work on the house since the remodel on her Beverly Hills pad is almost complete.

So glad to hear Jennifer’s doing her part. Because having two enormous houses in the same city is soooo good for the environment… Hopefully she’ll be riding her bicycle back and forth between the two.

Polish born actress Dominika Wolski is the new face of ethical jewelry line Froote. With her lean physique and penchant for sports, the 28-year-old actress is often compared to Cameron Diaz and Uma Thurman. And she’s not a bad actress either. Wolski has been a mainstay of the West Coast Vancouver film scene since her big screen debut in 2001.

Wolski traveled to Mozambique on the request of director Ed Zwick, where she to visited the set of “Blood Diamond”. She later wrote on the Huffington Post, “My own choice to be a ‘face of Froote’ instead of other brands represented how much visiting the set of ‘Blood Diamond’ and learning the history of one aspect of a glamorous icon had influenced me.”

Dominika can be seen in the Canadian series jPod which premieres this month.

Froote — that’s fruit in Dutch — is the brainchild of Bravo’s “Top Design Challenge” winner, Elizabeth Moore. After a long career designing sets for musical icons like Stevie Nicks, Lenny Kravitz and Prince (she is rumored to be the inspiration behind “Raspberry Beret” because she, er, wore one), Moore decided to go it alone.

Froote jewelry operates under the banner of Eco-Mergent — environment and humanity moving forward in harmony. By doing so, the designer is raising awareness about working with untreated stones and aligning with manufacturers that comply to fair trade and sound working conditions.

With ethical jewelry like this, the red carpet could get whole lot more interesting.

Checkout behind the scene footage from the Froote Photo Shoot with Dominka Wolski

Katie Holmes, the Olsen Twins, Ben Affleck, Britney Spears. These are just some of the svelte celebrities often papped with a Starbucks in their hand. They’re part of the 50 percent of Americans who enjoy a daily cup of coffee or two. After oil, it’s our nation’s primary lubricant. It wakes us up, fires our synapses and clears our olfactory senses. All good stuff. So why do some of us view coffee as a guilty pleasure? I personally have no idea.

It’s well documented that coffee can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, type two diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, heart disease, gout and even tooth decay. Loaded with anti-oxidants, coffee also helps prevent “free radicals from forming cell damage” aka the big C. But now there’s also evidence that coffee can help you lose weight.

Provided your not adding ounces of caramel syrup or a gallon of full fat milk to your morning cup of joe, coffee is great for kick starting the metabolism. But did you know that green coffee beans not only increase metabolism but also speed up the body’s ability to burn fat? A 2006 study published in BioMed Central Complementary and Alternative Medicine, led by Hiroshi Shimoda, found that “people who consume 2.2 pounds per day of food containing .35 ounces of green coffee bean extract for 14 days could suppress their body weight by as much as 35 percent”. 35 percent? Wow! I’m not sure how many cups of coffee you’d need for that work (and I’m sure it would render the Olsen twins into negative pounds) but it seems like another great reason to take coffee off the guilty pleasure list. Which means more room on the list for crap TV and trashy magazines. A win win if you ask me.

Sheryl Crow is one of those “celebrities” that I never tire of reading about. I use quotes around the c-word because Sheryl doesn’t really come across as a celebrity. She seems like a groovy chick that I could hang out with instead of someone who’s famous for her accomplishments (which she is), or just for being famous (which she’s not).

One of the things that makes Sheryl so cool (aside from her music, of course) is her concern for the environment. Last year she played a two-week series of gigs at colleges, which she called the Stop Global Warming tour and afterwards she had a much publicized green baby shower to welcome her now 9-month-old son Wyatt. And on the TMI side, she’s blogged about her belief that using less toilet paper will help stop climate change:

“I propose a limitation to be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. I think we are industrious enough people to make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required.”

And like all groovy people you hang out with, you don’t have to agree with them on everything… But whether you subscribe to the toilet paper thing or not, you have to admire her commitment and her courage to put it all out there. “When a baby comes into your life,” she recently told Parade, “the environment becomes so personal. Having him around, this little innocent spirit, really made me fearless about writing what I wanted to write and about not being afraid of who I was going to piss off. It created a lot of urgency about that.”

If it makes you happy, Sheryl, it can’t be that bad. Rock on.

(via Parade and Oneindia)

“In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to solve the democracy crisis,” said former Vice President Al Gore in a speech at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California.

I would tend to believe just about anything Al said and, according to a recent Wired article, Mr. Gore says that “68 percent of Americans now believed that human activity was responsible for global warming, and 69 percent believed the Earth was heating up in a significant way. But this, along with buying hybrids and installing solar panels, wasn’t enough.”

Changing light bulbs won’t do it either, he said. We needs to change are laws. And in order to accomplish this, we need urgency. Which means we need help from the media.

“[Gore] showed slides listing the number of questions that broadcast media outlets posed to presidential candidates last year about the climate crisis. NBC’s top journalists asked 956 questions of the candidates, but only two of them were about the climate crisis. ABC journalists asked 844 questions; two of which were about the crisis. Fox and CNN also asked two questions on the topic, and CBS had asked none, he said.”

Demanding changes is not unreasonable, said the former VP. And our country has the resources to make it — roughly a week’s worth of Iraq war budget should be enough — but our politicians need to give the okay to access the resources. Which they won’t do unless the public demands it. With help from the media.

To help ensure that public demands are appropriately expressed in the upcoming election, the Al Gore-founded Alliance for Climate Protection will be launching a major campaign to educate and enlighten the voters between now and November to help create a public movement that forces politicians to make global warming issues a priority because, as Gore said last year, “where public opinion goes, federal policy will follow.”

To read the full Wired article, click here.

Celebrities packed the Green Carpet at the EMA’s and we where there to find out why!

Star’s we spoke with: Sopranos Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Reno 911’s Niecy Nash, Architect Philip Starck, Enttourage’s Constance Zimmer, Rules of Engagement’s Megyn Price, Live Earth Founder Kevin Wall, High School Musical’s Corbin Blue, House MD’s Lisa Edelstein, Actress Natasha Henstridge, Director / Writer Paul Haggis, Actor Ed Begley Jr., Incubus Guitarist Mike Einziger and more….

Click here to view the embedded video.

Woody Harrelson loves wild places. So he says in a compelling new video that supports the non-profit global warming educator, Focus the Nation. In addition to his other environmental efforts, Woody was kind enough to lend his name this short, which promotes the organization’s national teach-in, scheduled for January 31st. The project hopes to educate American teachers and students in the importance of climate control solutions.

Woody says:

“Americans get that Global Warming is real. And yet we are paralyzed, somehow buying the lie that we can’t do anything to stop it. Clean energy solutions — wind, solar, geothermal, biodiesel — can end our addiction to fossil fuels, stabilize the climate, create tens of millions of jobs, and lay the foundation for a just and sustainable future. Save half of the life of the planet.”

Well said, Wild Woody. For more information on Focus the Nation, click here.