Gaiam Life - Wellness, Green Living, Spirituality, Fitness, Yoga & Healthy Home
 
Become a fan  |  Follow us  |  Subscribe  |  Videos  |  Newsletter
Login     Register




Celebrity Planet: Beastie Boy Calls Nestlé Out Over Bottled Water

 

 

In the '80s, the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch fought for the right to party. Today, he's taking on a company he says is harming the environment.

A top exec from Nestlé wasn't thrilled during a screening of the documentary Flow: For Love of Water at the Nantucket Film Festival, reports the New York Post. You see, her company was co-sponsoring the festival and the movie bashed Nestlé Waters — the number one bottled water company worldwide — for harming the environment.

The film is produced by Adam (a.k.a. Beasties rapper MCA) and "probes growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh-water supply." It points the finger at Nestlé as well as Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

"[Nestlé is] promoting bottled water in general," Adam told the paper. "It's the bottles themselves, the amount of pollution they create and then disposing of them are problems. They put pretty pictures of springs and forests on the bottles, but in this movie they're getting called out. I think it's great. They lock down water as a commodity they can buy and sell. It's terrifying." It is scary... as are the memories I have of myself as a teen rapping along to Beastie Boys songs. No sleep till Brooklyn... The solution? Buy a reusable water bottle.

Long before it was common practice to bring reusable bags on your grocery trip, Julia Roberts would recycle her grocery bags — bringing the plastic ones back to her local store and collecting a small deduction off her total for each bag. This week, the pretty woman was snapped leaving her local Von's grocery store pushing her own cart and loading her recyclable "Organics" shopping bags into the car. It's nice to see she continues to walk the walk — or carry the bags.

Rosario Dawson's reusable bag

Speaking of bags, Rosario Dawson is the latest star to loan her name to draw attention to global warming. The talented actress helped design a reusable bag — a joint effort between ABSOLUT and Environmental Media Association — to help shoppers be aware of how their daily actions affect the environment.

Note: You don't have to fill the bag strictly with ABSOLUT vodka bottles... though you'd sure be a hit at the next party you attend if that's what you walked in with!

Still no Brangelina baby (sigh), but Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are in the news for donating $1 million smackeroos. The Jolie-Pitt Foundation gifted the money toward educational aid for children impacted by the Iraq war in that country and in the United States. It will provide aid for some 5,700 children and pay for basic necessities, including books and supplies and to school rehabilitation programs.

While rumors swirl about the status of his marriage, Ben Affleck is trying to shift the attention somewhere else — Africa. The actor joins Nightline as a special correspondent reporting on the humanitarian crisis in the Congo. Violet's dad has traveled there three times in the past year and his essay will air on ABC. "It's fairly clear that in the modern age that there is a currency to celebrity, or celebrity is a currency, really," Ben said. "I've discovered that you can spend it in a lot of ways, or you can squander it. You can be taxed, as well. I really started thinking long and hard about how to use that currency as long as I had it." Nice work, Ben. Now about your marriage...

Christina Aguilera and son urge Americans to vote

Lastly, Christina Aguilera is urging Americans to vote this November — and she's enlisted her 5-month-old baby boy, Max, to help spread the word. The mom and son appear in a new Rock the Vote PSA — in which she holds the wee one and sings "America the Beautiful." "It was really important for me to get involved and get excited about this election in particular," the gifted singer told Larry King this week, "being such one of change and new development for our country and for the future of my son." Is this the same girl who wore chaps and put out an album named Dirrty? Yep, thought so.


Check out past Celebrity Planet columns:

Nicole Kidman Grows Produce...And Her Family
Brad Pitt's Other Baby, Jenny Garth Reuses & More!
Jenny & Jim Want Green Vaccines & More


Community Voice

 
Corporations like Coke, Nestlé and Suez are turning water from a public resource into a profit-driven commodity and selling it to us at a higher price than gasoline. The plastic bottles used to contain bottled water also require massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport. Billions of these bottles wind up in landfills every year. The US has some of the most reliable water in the world, yet we have made the bottled water industry a billion-dollar industry. Kudos to Mr Yauch; He's got the right idea.
stopcorpabuse,
Jul 1, 2008 11:34:29 AM


Shop Gaiam.com       My Profile       Contact Us       Privacy Policy       Terms & Conditions       About Gaiam Life       FAQ's       Register       Site Map

Copyright © Gaiam, Inc.