GREEN Envy

After years of making snarky comments about the stupidity of America's gigantic obsession with celebrity life, I'm ready to sing a slightly different tune. Slightly.

Yes, you are still pathetic if you have ever read a "story" about what Sara Jessica Parker keeps in her Balenciaga and have run out  to purchase the exact same lip gloss.  Ditto for  knowing the middle names and birth-dates of celebrity children. (C'mon, we know you don't know the same about your own family.) And  while I'm  on a bit of a tirade here, there's a difference between "news" and News.  News  does relate to our daily lives, while "news" does not. I  need to know if daylight savings time is  changing, if taxes are going up,  if all my leftover 33-cent stamps are worthless  as postage.  These things affect my life. Brittany Spears' hairstyle? Not so much.

However sad it is that we devote endless hours and precious brainpower to understanding celebrities whom we do not know and who do not wish to know us, I have recently come to terms with the fact that maybe we could learn something from some celebrities, and maybe our obsession with them could actually have a positive effect.

My new outlook on this comes directly from the greening of the Academy Awards. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) joined the Oscar team to put environmental consciousness center stage.  With the celebs pulling up to the carpet in Hybrids, eating organic food off biodegradable dishware, and reading winners' names from "ecologically superior paper", celeb-obsessed watchers took in one overriding fashion tip: Green is the new black. Take this tip to heart and in this one way, try to live the celebrity lifestyle.

Here's what they did:

• Energy audit of Kodak Theatre; efficiency plan and recommendations.
• Renewable energy credits were purchased from Bonneville Environmental Foundation to offset carbon emissions from pre-show, red-carpet event, Oscar telecast, and Governor's Ball.
• Use of ecologically superior paper for telecast and non-telecast event materials such as nomination ballots, envelopes, press materials, programs, invitations, and certificates.
• Hybrid vehicle transportation provided for presenters and staff.
• Comprehensive recycling system instituted for event waste.
• Crew meals and craft services included reusable service materials and accessories, post-consumer tissue products, and biodegradable dishware.
• Governors' Ball menu featured organic and environmentally-friendly food, including seafood, dairy, produce, and even the large chocolate Oscar.
• Left-over Governor's Ball food donated to Angel Harvest.