Six Celebs Who Almost Get It

Green hypes and gripes about Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, Miley Cyrus, and more.

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Leonardo DiCaprio
Hype: Lives in a solar-powered house; made global-warming flick The 11th Hour; currently documenting the green makeover of tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas.
Gripe: In 1999 Thai citizens sued the producers of The Beach for permanently damaging the islands’ dune ecosystems; in 2005 DiCaprio bought a pristine, 104-acre island off the coast of Belize to turn into a resort.

Miley Cyrus
Hype: Proceeds from sales of her 8×10 autographed glossy photos benefit environmental education.
Gripe: The Center for Environmental Health found high lead levels in Hannah Montana backpacks, purses, and wallets.

Laurie David
Hype: The Huffington Post blogger, NRDC activist, and pal to Al Gore has raised millions of dollars to fight global warming by hosting ecosalons in her homes.
Gripe: The utility bill from her multimillion-dollar homes in Pacific Palisades and Martha’s Vineyard will take some serious credits to offset.

Soleil Moon Frye
Hype: Former Punky Brewster star co-owns the Little Seed, a green children’s boutique in Los Angeles.
Gripe: Sixty crayons in a basket is $147. An environmentally friendly birch-wood high chair with a phthalate-free plastic tray runs $250.

Brad Pitt
Hype: After Hurricane Katrina, Pitt dropped $5 million to build 150 affordable, environmentally sound houses in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward.
Gripe: His 1,000-acre estate in France has 35 bedrooms, a lake, a pool, a moat, a vineyard, and a forest.

Natalie Portman
Hype: In 2008 she launched her own cruelty-free vegan shoe line.
Gripe: Pay up to $385 for a pair of Portmans—or get your plastic kicks at Wal-Mart, where a pair of Crocs knockoffs goes for $6.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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