I’m very conscious of the fact that Earth Day is misused for all sorts of purposes, from selling cheap flights to “eco-resorts”, to celebrities greening their image for a day. I gave some thought to how I would celebrate Earth Day. In the end I decided to share “La Belle Verte” (The Green Beautiful), a film I enjoyed very much for its funny look at how an advanced civilisation might view us, but with some deep messages within. It even includes Marion Cotillard before she starred in “Taxi” and went on to get an Oscar for her role in “La vie en rose”. It was filmed in some beautiful locations in Languedoc-Roussillon, Australia as well as Paris .

The film has not received much exposure since it was first aired in 1995. The Green Beautiful’s Channel on You Tube enables this film to be viewed in nine parts. A poorer quality version is available on Google Videos until May

Have you seen the Green Beautiful? If so, what did you think of it?
Enjoy Earth Day!

Thirty nine years ago a number of organisations with diverse goals, yet all concerned with a sustainable future on this planet got together. The first Earth Day was held in in 1970. The event has become mainstream.  It has been interesting reading surfing the net today as some of the news items have varied from positively helpful ways to secure a sustainable future on the Earth to pure Greenwash.

Using Earth Day to sell airline tickets

One company selling cheap airline tickets even tried to get some Earth Day Green points, by focusing on eco hotels, spas and even some green travel tips. Instead of being honest and saying that you shouldn’t take the flight unless there is no sustainable alternative. They simply say green issues shouldn’t stop you flying. Of course they say you can offset. Offsetting though, is the last resort, as the flight will still produce carbon dioxide, as well as burn up a portion of irreplaceable fossil fuel.Of course the answer is to travel to the destination slowly using buses, trains, cycling or walking. This takes time and that is not compatible with the life we live. There is hope though, I will try to provide some inspirational examples in future posts.

Eco villas

Another company was promoting its eco villas. Some of the ones advertised were huge with their own swimming pool. Of course they had rainwater harvesting but usually for watering the plants not for flushing toilets. Solar panels, ground source heat pumps were on offer. I am not negative about the efforts made, but surely there is still lots of room for improvement. A private swimming pool maybe a luxury, but it consumes lots of resources in their construction, upkeep and that’s without all the fresh water they consume in areas that are often water stressed. Its better for the environment to use the sea or failing that communal pools.

Frivolous Earth Day Posts

Another site had a video post of Celebrities approach to Earth Day. I found it fairly shallow. OK, so the presenter pointed out that to be a green celebrity, you need to do more than drive a Toyota Prius (actually there are less polluting cars available), use reusable shopping bags and the like. I suppose the only test is to look at someones complete ecological footprint this is impossible without being intrusive, although one Hollywood film star who produced a green quote for Earth Day has a fleet of private jets, so I agree that we can’t take him too seriously. I certainly am far from green, but I am taking action that reduces my footprint month by month.

Why does Luxury Travel claim the Green credentials?

I find it just a little disconcerting to note that it is luxury travel that is claiming to be eco friendly. Often often long haul flights are required to access the location, the facilities occupy large amounts of land compared to indigenous homes. Whereas budget travel staying in small easily heated rooms with showers instead of Jacuzzis do not use anywhere near as much in the way of resources. Combine this with small family run hotels with locally sourced produce and your impact is going to be a lot less. Or perhaps you don’t agree?