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Articles by Yolanda Crous

Yolanda Crous is a Grist contributing writer based in Santa Barbara, Calif.

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  • John Travolta’s private plane fetish brings the noise to a small Maine community

    Oh, John Travolta. When will you and your planes stop p$#@ing off the populace?

    Apparently it's not enough for Mr. Saturday-Night-Give-the-Planet-a-Fever to wander the globe in his private planes, trailing an excess of carbon emissions in his wake. He's also got to land his plane near his Maine residence during the area's voluntary no-fly period between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

    Come on, John. It's bad enough that you're contributing to warming the planet. Now you're going to keep granny awake in the process? For shame, Vinnie Barbarino, for shame.

  • Hell hath no fury like a Lohan scorned

    On the list of most environmentally unfriendly ways to avenge yourself on an ex-boyfriend, leaving the water in your tub running so it can flood your former squeeze's apartment sits pretty close to the top. But punishment-by-excessive-water-use is exactly what Lindsay Lohan allegedly wrought on Harry Morton last month.

    This, from TMZ.com:

  • Bib you hear the one about … ?

    The number one craze in Hollywood -- babies. The number two craze -- using your baby to show off your eco-grooviness.

    According to the folks at Ecorazzi, OopC bibs, made from 100 percent organic cotton, are flying off the shelves and into the homes of such glitter-mamas as Gwyneth Paltrow and Tori Spelling. But, as the site rightly points out, buying a few organic bibs does not a true green celeb make:

    One new Hollywood grandma who must rename nameless ordered 56 OOPCs -- that's nine for each of her six homes ...

    Six homes?! Grandma's lucky she chose to remain nameless as we would be quick to blast such excess. Granted, buying 56 organic bibs is a step in the right direction.

    I don't know. In my opinion, the only way buying 56 bibs is a step in the right direction is if 52 of them are being donated to some kind of mothers-in-need program.

    But, hey, let me give Hollywood Grandma the benefit of the doubt. She could just be trying to help create an economy of scale for organic baby products.

  • This model is no longer untouchable

    During college, I went through an ill-advised phase during which I tacked photos of supermodels I was never, ever going to look like on my dorm-room walls. One of my twiggy idols was Shalom Harlow, whom I loved because she a) really knew how to work the red lipstick and b) seemed like the least approachable person on the planet.

    No longer. This year, not only did she show up on the cover of Domino's Green Issue, she also (as Amanda Griscom Little reported) popped up at the Sundance Channel's Green Party, spouting nuggets of folksy green wisdom, like this one:

    We have a flushing system at our house where we only flush if it's number two.

    Goodbye untouchable supermodel. Hellloooooo, environmentally astute woman of the people!