November/December 2008 Issue

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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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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