Earth Day 2008 On Oprah
Oprah celebrated Earth Day with an entire show devoted to ways to save the planet. Oprah-style of course. This means that she had special guests ranging from Julia Roberts to Sandra Bullock to Al Gore.
The show focused on several main areas:
1. Organic Eating:
Julia Roberts and green expert Sophie Uliano discussed the top seven organic foods to keep in your kitchen.
They are:
1. organic baby food
2. organic dairy products
3. organic meat (raised without hormones and antibiotics being the key).
4. organic rice
5. organic snack food, specifically anything containing corn, wheat and/or oats.
6. organic peanut butter
7. organic fruits and vegetables, specifically organic raisins, potatoes, green beans, cucumbers and strawberries.
2. Eliminating Food Waste
Sophie Uliano and Julia Roberts also discussed how composting can enrich your garden, and walked through the actual process.
With three young children at home, Hollywood mom Julia Roberts says her family used to waste a lot of leftover food. “I [used to] just cry and scrape plates and think, ‘How can I be doing this?’”
Thanks to her eco-conscious friend Sophie Uliano, author of Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life
, Julia says she discovered a way to put her waste to good use—composting. “I do love composting,” she says. “This is one of the things that Sophie has really been on me about.”
Sophie says it’s easy to turn leftover fruits, veggies, grains and paper products into compost, a natural alternative to commercial fertilizer. “You can turn your waste into gold—literally brown gold,” Sophie says. “It’s the most nutritious thing that you can put in your garden.”
3. Eco-Friendly Beauty
Be aware of what’s in your favorite beauty products, read the label. Also, finding natural alternatives to your favorite products.
According to Consumer Reports, only 11 percent of ingredients in personal care products are tested for safety in the United States. The Environmental Working Group says one in 13 women are exposed to known or probable carcinogens in these products every day.
Green expert Sophie Uliano says these types of chemicals in products like shampoo and body lotions could be harming our environment because they are washed down the drain into our water supplies. Our bodies are also absorbing these chemicals. “Our body’s a living organ, and it absorbs almost everything you put on it, so we really need to take care of that,” she says.
4. Sandra’s Solutions
An environmentally conscious childhood inspired Sandra Bullock to reduce, reuse and recycle at home and work.
Actress Sandra Bullock isn’t new to the environmental movement. Growing up, Sandra says her mother raised her and her sister on macrobiotic foods and taught them to be wary of chemicals and pesticides.
“It wasn’t fun as a kid. We went to the neighbors for our Cheetos and the good stuff. … I hated it then, [but] I love it now,” she says. “She recycled everything—nothing was bought and disposed of. It’s astounding to me now more than it ever was when I was a kid.”
5. Conservation Campaign
Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore encourages Americans to join the fight against global warming.
Though leaders are starting to listen to Gore’s urgent warnings, he says the world is still at risk. “We’re still dumping 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the earth’s atmosphere every day,” he says. “Vindication would be when we really stop doing that and turn the corner, but the exciting, positive news is that there are a lot of good changes under way now.”
6. How to Go Green
Tips to inspire us to start making a difference in the world.
Make going green a part of your daily life. Julia Roberts and green expert Sophie Uliano suggest small changes you can do to make a huge difference in our world. Plus how you can save the environment and save money - at the same time!
As ever, this was a great show. Most of the information I already knew.
One thing did stand out: Al Gore had previously been called out for buying a huge house in Tennessee, which had a massive carbon footprint. They have since outfitted it with solar panels, all CFLs, effective landscaping and a number of other eco-friendly changes.
We know that Oprah has deep resources. Did she reference any changes that she is making to her own home, studio, etc.?
We Tivo this show, and I may have been out of the room if she said anything.
Does anyone have information on Oprah going green in her home life?
