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Finally, Hollywood appears to be jumping on the green bandwagon at least for one movie. Evan Almighty, recently released, has apparently been filmed in an eco-friendly fashion, and the "rising seas" theme is a deliberate reference to the imminent effects of global warming. Says Roberta Cruger in a blog post over at Plenty Magazine,
"Shadyac gifted 400 cast and crew with bicycles to reduce car usage during the shoot and supplied HtoO (Hope to Others), his own bottled water company, which donates 100 percent of its profits to charities. (Others spotted drinking HtoO water: Kate Hudson, Jessica Simpson, Matthew Perry, Snoop, Vin, Damon recycle the bottles, please). Shadyac admits, recycling bins and double-sided scripts required re-training folks, but didnt take long
Working with the Conservation Fund to calculate the carbon emissions from vehicles, construction, power, etc. to zero out the productions estimated 5.2 million pounds of CO2, trees were planted in wildlife refuges in California and Virginia (near the arks site) as a gesture of gratitude to the community. Instead of dumping lumber, windows, and materials, salvaged stuff and landscaping shrubs were contributed to Habitat for Humanity.
Strolling down the premieres green (literally) carpet, comic Steve Carell lent an amusing take to the eco-message along with co-starring comedian Wanda Sykes (seen tooling around Toontown in her hybrid). The party included edible centerpieces and reusable goodie bags with organic snacks and CFL bulbs.
NBC Universals environmental commitment displayed on their Get On Board website encourages fans to plant a virtual tree in The Almighty Forest for a mere $5 donation to combat global warming and a mention on the DVD (at last count, over 29,000 how will the names all fit?!). Also, GEs Ecomagination campaign is running spots on 13,000 screens about the environmentally conscious movie and sponsor Travelocity now links customers to offsets for flights.
With just so much land on the planet, Shaydac acknowledges that tree planting for zero-carbon is a limited notion and recognizes the hypocrisy of the ad campaigns plane-dragged banners, but hes working on a green movie certification process and bringing ecological issues to mainstream audiencesinstead of just preaching to the converted. Hallelujah!"