May 4, 2009, - 12:06 pm
U2’s “The Edge”: Yet Another Celeb Eco-Hypocrite
By Debbie Schlussel
I love ridiculing celebrity Eco-Hypocrites because it’s just too easy. Too easy for them to lecture us on what to do, and too easy for them to not do it. The latest, comes from my favorite rock cornucopia of hypocrisy: U2.
It’s not just that U2 rockers–including and especially Bono and “The Edge” (slave name: David Evans)–are jet-set eco-hypocrites, wasting oodles of gas on their private planes and wasting tons more energy to put on their concert tours.
It’s that, well, there’s not a single thing they practice, in the course of preaching it to you and me. Here’s the latest example:
The Edge and his wife, Morleigh Steinberg, bought 156 acres in Santa Monica Mountains and now want to build five mansions there, including their own dream home.
“These homes will be some of the most environmentally sensitive ever designed in Malibu – or anywhere in the world,” the guitarist . . . said in a prepared statement.
Nearby residents, however, haven’t bought his green pitch and say The Edge is endangering the beauty of one of Southern California’s most famous beachfront communities along with U2’s globally conscious image. . . .
The plan has sparked the latest development controversy in Malibu, where residents and city officials portray themselves as stewards of a blessed environment – even as the construction of palatial mansions and sweeping driveways turn vast swaths of that environment to mulch.
The project proposed by The Edge calls for a cluster of five, 10,000-square-foot homes. The two-story, earth-toned dwellings would be the maximum size allowed in areas designated as environmentally sensitive habitat.
Renderings show organic design features such as a pool that encircles one home like a moat. . . .The Edge is also proposing to dig an access road up the mountain. . . .
“They’re claiming it’s a green environmental project, but you’d have to live in the houses a thousand years” to make up for the carbon dioxide emitted by the trucks hauling the dirt out, said Lawrence Weisdorn, president of the Serra Retreat homeowners association. . . .
Critics [say] . . . [f]lora and fauna may be lost, energy and water will be used to create and transport building materials, not to mention filling the pools and lighting up the mansions even if they are helped by solar panels. . . .
Mark Abramson, director of watershed programs with the Santa Monica Baykeeper, said he has serious doubts about claims by The Edge that his hillside homes would be among the most environmental in the world.
Question: Why does someone who tells Americans they don’t give enough to charity–as “The Edge” and his friend, Bono, do–need five mansions? And how on earth does it “conserve” energy to bring heat and cool and bring running water to five 10,000-square-foot mansions? Five mansions for TWO people total?
Just curious. Yup, when it comes to being eco-conscious, the pretentiously self-monikered “The Edge” ain’t so edgy after all.
Celeb Eco-Hypocrisy: Utilize energy as we say, not as our mansions, planes, concert tours, and movie sets do.
Among my many previous posts on this: Hollywood’s Carbon Footprint: Celeb Mag Slams Celeb Enviro-Hypocrisy
The most enviromentally sound thing to do is stop buying their trash music and seeing their concerts.
[W: AMEN. I NEVER BOUGHT A SINGLE SONG OR CD OF THEIRS, NEVER WENT TO A U2 CONCERT. AND MY LIFE IS BETTER FOR IT. DS]
wolf2012 on May 4, 2009 at 12:34 pm