Articles by Yolanda Crous

The pre-Oscar buzz is green, all green

Anyone who sneaks a guilty peek at Access Hollywood or Extra after dinner knows that it is officially Party Week in Hollywood. Everybody and her over-pedigreed dog is in town, boozing and schmoozing it up before the Academy Awards on Sunday. So when I scored an invite to the Global Green pre-Oscar party, I was pretty pumped.

This is the third year the organization has thrown the blowout, complete with a plethora of hybrids and alternative energy vehicles in the parking lot, chic sustainable building materials on display inside, and a long list of big names in attendance. Among the biggest: Petra Nemcova and James Blunt, Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson, Orlando Bloom and his new spiky haircut, and Oscar nominees and event co-chairs Leonardo DiCaprio and Penelope Cruz.

Unfortunately, I and the rest of the print media were stationed in front of the fans on the street and after a looong line of photographers. So many of the stars didn't stop to chat, either because they were suffering from sheer media fatigue or because they mistook us for a gaggle of screaming autograph seekers. (I'm sure my shrill cries of "Orlando! I want to ask you about the environment!" didn't help.)

First thoughts after the Global Green USA pre-Oscar party

Got back to Santa Barbara late last night early this morning from the Global Green USA pre-Oscar party in L.A. and am officially running on organic coffee fumes. Here are a few first impressions of a very eventful night:

• Using celebrities to lure hundreds of people with large disposable incomes into a club showcasing solar panels, natural carpets, and other sustainable building materials -- Global Green USA president Matt Petersen is a frickin' genius!


• Unfortunately, I don't fit into the "large disposable income" category. Do you think it's too early to ask for a Tesla sports car for Christmas?


• Chevy Chase thinks green carpets are cooler than red ones.


• Never got all tingly for Orlando Bloom until last night when he showed up with a new spiky haircut. Keep it up, Orlando -- keep it up.

Stay tuned; a more fulsome post to come.

One great way to increase environmental awareness? That’s entertainment.

Whenever a Hollywood star steps behind a podium in support of a cause, you can almost hear the sound of millions of Americans rolling their eyes. What right, goes the thinking, do actors/pop stars/celebutantes have to tell us, the workaday citizens of the real world, what we should and should not believe about the political issue du jour?

Rub-a-dub-dub, there are toxins in my tub

In a study released today by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and written up in the L.A. Times, 18 of 18 bath products tested contained traces of 1,4-Dioxane, a suspected carcinogen. Three of the products -- Clairol Herbal Essences Rainforest Flowers Shampoo, Olay Complete Body Wash With Vitamins, and Hello Kitty Bubble Bath -- contained levels higher than those recommended by the FDA. Goodbye, Kitty.