Green Options

California’s graywater revolution. Read about it by Paige Donner, founder of Greening Hollywood, eco-consultant and media expert.

XGames 3D: The Movie is ESPN’s first action-sports 3D movie. Soundtrack is by The Crystal Method. ESPN went carbon neutral this year at their summer ESPYs and XGames held at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles. Get the full story from Greening Hollywood.

First Time Homebuyers qualified for Fed. Stimulus Funds. Why not \”greenovate!\” $50K available in grant money for home improvements for qualified individuals.”

Were you starting to believe that the Federal Stimulus $$ were for everyone but you? Brace yourself, because you, - yes YOU! - even if you’re not a billionaire banker or jet-setting car company executive - may be able to qualify for a nice chunk of change from the government to buy your first home.

In a national program, the Federal government is making available up to $75K dollars in a 0% interest, 20-year deferred home loan if you meet certain qualifications. What are the qualifications? You must be a low ($46K per year) –medium ($66K) income earner and have a FICO score of at least 620. If you have all that, pay attention, because you can get yourself qualified for not just up to $75K in a 0% home loan but also another $10K towards the down payment of said home or the closing costs upon purchase, you choose.

Let’s start by mentioning a few of the wonderful things that the Los Angeles Business Council and its fabulous President, Mary Leslie, are doing: They are corralling the city’s public and private heads of agencies and businesses into a forum where they can engage in conversation. This corral has taken place at the Getty Museum for the past 3 years under the moniker of the Los Angeles Business Council’s Sustainability Summit.

On August 10th, Leslie is hosting a similar event specifically for our film industry. The LABC is shepherding our City’s prominent, if not still #1, industry – the film studios – and getting them all together to talk about the business of sustainability: Sustainability and the Entertainment Community.
I’m all for conversation. When we sit down and talk with each other, a wealth of information can get shared if all parties engage and are engaged. Personally I’m convinced that it was through these types of pow-wows that the notion of “creating fire” was spread among humankind.

With this year’s Emmy’s just around the corner, the talented members of the Costume Guild are already feeling the spotlight. This past weekend FIDM hosted the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Costume Design and Supervision Peer Group as they honored the 61st Primetime Emmy Award nominees for outstanding costumes. Several of the collections on display are vintage-era designs and re-purposed style from our Grandmother’s day.

Nominees included Janie Bryant, Costume Designer, Mad Men; Jo Katsaras, Emmy nominated Costume Designer for The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency; as well as Kim Martinez and Jennifer Kamrath, Emmy nominated Costume Designer and Supervisor, respectively, for The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice.

Greening Hollywood Guild by Guild’s founder, Paige Donner, interviews Rachelle Carson Begley on the importance of using clean cosmetics.

Sony Pictures Studios believes in creating a culture on their Culver City campus. For CEO Michael Lynton and Co-Chairman Amy Pascal this includes a culture of environmental responsibility and sustainable stewardship, according to Jon Corcoran, VP, Corporate Safety and Environmental Affairs and John Rego, Director, Environmental Sustainability for the movie studio.

During a recent tour of the facilities, they each pointed out that education and employee awareness were key to behavior changes when it comes to environmental stewardship. This philosophy is in keeping with the Japanese tradition of creating an employee culture, a loyalty that reaches beyond the standard employee-employer structure, and one that gives and takes both ways. [Pictured: John Rego, Sony Studios; Paige Donner, Greening Hollywood; and Jon Corcoran, Sony Studios; photo by Ann Burkart]

Case in point: On June 29th, as part of Sony Studios “Links Green Series” they hosted a lunch time “Residential Solar and Hybrid Car Program,” presentation. This is an incentive program, offered through the studio, that gives employees a check for up to $5000 when they either buy a hybrid electric vehicle or install solar voltaic panels on their residence. This incentive “payback” is above and beyond the State and Federal tax incentives. Believe me, I asked. Don’t everyone blast your resume off to Sony Pictures Entertainment now!

Urban environments beg for a breather – especially when summer rolls around. This holds true even for urban seascapes such as L.A., our country’s second largest city and known for its metropolitan sprawl. Thanks in part to Guru Energy Drink, a recent sponsor of Greening Hollywood, and Whole Food’s most popular energy drink, I was able to invite a couple of friends to join me day tripping up to a nature estate in Ojai.
Not too long ago, I befriended a fashion designer specialized in sustainable leather goods – one who makes chrome-free leather boots, jewelry and accessories. Her name is Calleen Cordero and she has a following both in L.A. and internationally, in cities like Berlin. Her pieces are       [Pictured: Main House at Calliote]

fashionable, infused with quality craftsmanship and it’s only after the fact that one realizes their environmental aspect.

While speaking with her initially, however, we found ourselves on the subject of Ojai and the Ojai Foundation which has been teaching the arts of permaculture and sustainability back when these were “fringe” paths pursued by the hippie-culture. Ojai is the small “art town,” set back in the hills off the 101, between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. These days The Ojai Foundation is focused on “Council” a program they have been taking out to area schools in the local and surrounding counties.  What is “Council?”

Saving the planet through story is how Arianna shaped the green panel she moderated at the Produced By Conference held at Sony Picture Studios over the weekend.  The Conference was put on by the Producer’s Guild of America and co-helmed by the legendary Gale Anne Hurd.

If a person’s clout can be measured by the resources they can commandeer, then Hurd is most certainly still at the top of the Hollywood heap.  Not only was the Sony Pictures Studio lot supremely pleasant to stroll around, but volunteers were everywhere to assist with even small things like fetching water. Seriously.

And Sunday’s complimentary lunch featured no less than 10 honey wagons set up to serve the likes of lobster rolls, shrimp tempura and teriyaki flank steak.  Hurd commented to me that people were already asking her when next year’s conference was going to happen and said that “we didn’t even think we’d pull this one off!”  They expected 600 attendees - 900 paying producers showed up.

Paige Donner presented the panel Greening Hollywood: Guild by Guild in Santa Monica. Paige, Founder of Greening Hollywood, invited panelists who are members of the Hollywood Makeup and Hairstylist’s Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Local 706 to speak about clean and green make up use on film and tv sets. Moderated by Rachelle Carson-Begley - co-star of Living With Ed.

Paige Donner’s Greening Hollywood column can be found on The Huffington Post. She writes on all things green that intersect with Style, Fashion and Entertainment. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paige-donner