Our beloved Leo and his photoshopped companion cub, Knot - cover of Vanity Fair, April 2007.

Malorie Bertrand

Case-in-point: Ugg boots were first worn by the likes of L.A. girls including Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, and Mischa Barton before they spread rapantly throughout university campuses all across North America. Who knew that an insulated fall boot would become the footwear de jour for the sunshine state?

Katy Perry’s retro look made her one of the first celebrities to sport high-waisted pants, (now a very common pant style for the greater public) no matter how unforgiving they may be to those of us with curvier bottoms.

Eco-fashion and the whole green movement in general has massed a lot of support from the public thanks to the outspoken greensters of Hollywood such as the sultry Eva Mendes, Canada darling Rachel McAdams, and who could ever forget Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover of Vanity Fair, posing with his good pal, the polar bear?

The point is, it’s great to have this star power behind the environmental movement. True, it could be considered rather sad that the public is more likely to follow the lead of a popstar than a politician, but if the message is the same, does it really matter who the leader is as long as the outcome is positive? I’m wondering if it would also be easier to give a celebrity your opinion and have them act on it than, say, Prime Minister Harper or President Obama. The accessibility of stars with their blogs, MySpace pages, Twitters, Facebook profiles and websites entices the public to reach out to them. Yes, some may be doing so just to say they contacted Adam Brody but others are turning to the stars (like my play on words?) for political support as their representative.

The only downside to celebrity environmentalism is that it often gets sucked in by marketing companies and becomes nothing but another ploy to attrack consumers. ‘Green-washing’ has unfortunately become quite a popular term these days as more and more companies promise green products whose only ‘greeness’ is the colour of their labels. Here’s my warning to you all, be sure to do your research. Don’t spend more money on a product that claims to be green without doing a background check. See if the companies website is supported by other truly green companies and organizations such as Green Enterprise Toronto, the Green Loop, and Fashion Takes Action. The company’s website might help you too. If you see a lack of explanation about where the products are made and how they are produced, then you have a right to be suspicious.

More times than not, many celebrities have done the research for you and are very good at promoting truly environmentally-friendly products. Remember Leo in his hybrid car or Daryl and her biofuel? You get the idea.

Who else can Mother Nature list off as her biggest supporters in Hollywood?

1. Richard Branson (he’s working to make his island paradise completely self-sustaining)
2. Jessica Alba (featured in InStyle Magazine for her eco-friendly home)
3. Jason Mraz (is devoted to being a vegan)
4. Natalie Portman (designed vegan shoes with now bust shoe boutique Te Casan but it’s still an effort!)
5. Jake Gyllenhaal (supports the Carbon Neutral Company)

And I could go on and on but I think you get the point. Green is in and it’s here to stay. It has to, or we might as well put all the world’s brain power together to figure out a way to pull the sun towards us at a faster rate so that we all die in a mass of heat in little under a minute. I’m not so keen on that option so lets stick to the green brick rode we’ve chosen to walk on and see where it takes us.