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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Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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