HGTV

This Week's Green Celebrity and Entertainment News

deborah — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

This week yielded plenty of good deeds, changes for the better and perhaps a little extremism. Check out what's new in the world of green celebrity and entertainment:

Only at Walmart: Universal Music Group is placing plantable inserts inside many popular albums as a way to celebrate Earth Month. Look for seed packages inside albums from Universal Music Enterprises.
Thandie Newton is backing a new campaign to help bring clean drinking water to Africa.
HGTV's entire Earth Day line up with include green programming.
Kooky Ted Turner says global warming will lead to cannibalism. We’ll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals. Civilization will have broken down. The few people left will be living in a failed state — like Somalia or Sudan — and living conditions will be intolerable. The droughts will be so bad there’ll be no more corn grown. Not doing it is suicide.” You can't make this stuff up.
Saab is launching a green clothing line to accompany its hybrid.

Until next week, have a great weekend. Stay green.

Image:Morguefile

MyGreenCottage - National Green Home Building Company

jchait — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

If you’re looking to build green with total ease, you may want to check out MyGreenCottage a nationwide builder of custom green homes. This company is currently all the rage, and for good reason.

Nice green guy, Ed Begley, Jr. recently became the official spokesperson for MyGreenCottage which can only enhance the appeal of a company who is already going above and beyond when it comes to green homes. It helps me anyhow. It's looking like Living with Ed (HGTV) is not continuing - which has been the great depression of my TV year. It was one of the only shows I liked, so seeing good old Ed elsewhere is kind of nice.

MyGreenCottage notes that their main goal is to, “Create beautiful, safe homes that are healthy for you, your wallet and the planet.” The also build, “Any style, any size, anywhere.”

Perks of this green home building company include:

Consulting, free info about products, fresh home building, and green home renovations.

The company operates in a paperless and virtual environment – a virtually unheard of achievement among companies in general, but an excellent way to cut down on resource losses.

They employ a stunning array of green home options including solar, geothermal, energy star, fresh air systems, wind power, and more.

Offers an on-time, and even better, on budget guarantee.

Builds for around the same costs of a conventional home.

They also build strong and very fire resilient. MyGreenCottage uses a MGC fire retardant building system. You can watch a video where they actually blast a MyGreenCottage wall with a 5000-degree blowtorch. Pretty cool.

Visit the MyGreenCottage website and see news coverage, watch videos, learn more about their eco-products and design systems, and see great galleries of their homes. Some a little big for green, but keep in mind this is client choice. You could choose a smaller square foot home design with them to keep things truly on the green up and up.

Today’s bonus:

Check out this video - MyGreenCottage comes in to do a basic green home facelift on a standing home using zero VOC paints.

Living with Ed: Eco-Friendly Tv

deborah — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

If you haven't seen "Living with Ed" on HGTV, you're truly missing out. We all know of Ed Begley, Jr. the actor, but through "Living with Ed" we learn about Ed Begley, Jr. the green homeowner and activist.

The show, while being laugh out loud funny, also educates us as Ed greens up his property and teaches his friends and neighbors to be green. Nothing goes to waste in the Begley household. Not Ed's nasty office chair, not apple cores and not old dog bowl water as you can see in this hysterical video clip:

While it's apparent Ed is a bit of an...eccentric in Hollywood circles, it's clear his wife Rachelle Carson Begley has the patience of a saint. What I find refreshing is that after reporting on Hollywood luxury and excess for the past year, Ed and Rachelle have a small cozy home without a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles. How many homes do you know have an Academy Award above the cat box?

And though there are times Rachelle appears to be losing patience, it's clear she cares about the environment and has no problems doing her part to help take care of the earth. Check out her one thing everyone should do to be green. It's easy, it's inexpensive and we can all do it.

You gotta love a man who drives his environmentally sound electric car to the Academy Awards and isn't afraid to place a big red rain barrel in front of his home. If only we could get more of Hollywoods A (and B and C and D...) listers to follow the Begley's example. More civilians wouldn't be too far behind.

For more information on "Living with Ed" visit the HGTV website. I promise, you'll be hooked.

Image PR:Photo

Enter to Win an $850,000 Green Home -- Free

deborah — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

If you’re like me, you love to watch HGTV’s Dream Home giveaways as a way to vicariously live the life of luxury. The problem with luxury homes however, is that they’re not always environmentally friendly. The good news is that HGTV seeks to remedy this in 2008 with their Green Home TV Special and Giveaway.

The HGTV Green Home Giveaway will be hosted by popular HGTV handyman Carter Osterhouse on March 23rd at 9:00 PM.

The home, which is located near Hilton Head, South Carolina, and all its amenities are worth about $850,000. It’s described as a “traditional-styled, low country cottage”.

Some of the homes features and amenities include:

Over 2,000 square feet
The home is fully furnished
Three bedrooms
Two and a half baths
“Construction and design elements that are known to contribute to a healthier living environment.”
A “Gold” Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
Water and energy efficient fixtures and appliances
Repurposed furniture and other items
A bed made from materials found on the construction site
Tankless water heaters
The home meets hurricane code requirements
A GMC Yukon Hybrid
Erosion control
Pervious pavement allowing rainwater to seep into the ground rather than run into sewers.
Drought resistant landscape
Limited turf so precious resources aren’t wasted on lawn maintenance
Lots of large “canopy” shade trees
Rainwater harvesting and water reuse features
Energy efficient windows
Energy star rated appliances

For more information on HGTV’s Green Home Giveway, please visit the HGTV website and view video, read the Green Home blog and learn more about creating your own green home. And don’t forget to watch on March 23rd at 9:00 PM.

Image courtesy HGTV