Oscar festivities go green this year

By Stone Martindale Feb 22, 2007, 15:13 GMT

Actress Penelope Cruz arrives for the Global Green Pre Oscar Party in Hollywood, California 21 February 2007. EPA/PAUL BUCK

Plenty of green awareness in the pre-Oscar celebrity party scene, as Orlando Bloom hopes walking the talk and going green himself will inspire his fans to do likewise.

"Pirates" star Orlando Bloom's has a passion for going green.

The Global Green pre-Oscar party was held Wednesday night, and celebrities came out to show their support of more energy-efficient cars, homes and lifestyles.

Bloom wants the message to resonate with his young fans, and educate them to the importance of treating the earth a little more kindly: "I got a really sweet birthday message from a bunch of girls who said 'I'm unplugging my mobile phone charger and using energy-efficient light bulbs, and I'm really into the environment,' " he recalled. "I sent a note over the Web, and said, 'You know, I never do this, but thank you so much.' "

Bloom does love his sports-cars still, and he said he tries to offset his racing fuel consumption with solar panels on his London home and by using energy-saving household appliances, reports USA Today.

Bloom told reporters there was one person he would like to sway: "The president of this country. He's an outdoorsy guy. It's for our kids and kids' kids, and he's a family man. It's got to start with governments and big business."

The party was hosted by Hollywood's Avalon club with a performance by the band Maroon 5, was organized by Global Green USA.

USA Today reports Leonardo DiCaprio, a big supporter of Global Green, has been doing that for years, says Global Green USA president Matt Petersen. "He has been driving a hybrid since long before it was cool. Now everybody's jumping on the bandwagon."

This year's surprise hit, Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," has also spurred more green awareness, and is considered a front-runner for the best documentary Oscar.

Also in attendance were James Blunt and his model girlfriend, Petra Nemcova, who share the green passion.  USA Today asked the couple which of them was greener than the other, Blunt said, "I think we have an equal interest." Nemcova added, "Competition is good."