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7 Ways Brad Pitt Proves Green is Sexy

Brad Pitt’s smashing good looks had us at hello back in the days of Legends of the Fall, but it’s his environmental and charitable work that has us head over our vegan heels in love — from the Make It Right foundation and his green building passion to his charitable donations in the millions (with partner Angelina Jolie), to humanitarian causes around the world through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, there are more ways than one Brad Pitt proves green is sexy, joining the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and showing up the rest of Hollywood.

1. He Founded The Make It Right foundation

Brad Pitt started the Make It Right foundation in 2007 to rebuild homes for residents in New Orleans who lost theirs to Hurricane Katrina. Through modular building techniques, the use of smaller-scale, more efficient systems, and lowered prices for materials, the Make It Right homes are built cheaper than most not-so-green homes. The 13 completed homes — and 140 or so more on the way — offer tangible proof that sustainable building can be efficient and affordable. Even though they incorporate solar power, geothermal heating and cooling systems, Energy Star appliances, tank-less water heaters, energy conserving insulation and lighting systems, and more, these houses cost only $130 per square foot.

2. He Owns an Eco-Friendly Winery

Brad Pitt and his famous partner Angelina Jolie own Chateau Val Joanis in the south of France. The 1,000 acre estate is home to one of the oldest vineyards in the world that is still operating. The wine from Chateau Val Joanis was once sipped by the Romans and the Chateau still features visible remains of the Roman Villa that once existed there. According to its website, the French estate has survived many revolutions and has not had a change in its boundary lines since 1575. Along with organic grapes, the property also boasts a sustainable vegetable and herb garden that “makes up the first terrace” in addition to an olive orchard and loads of flowers and fruit trees. Via ::  ecorazzi

3. He is the Voice Behind PBS Series e2

The PBS series e2: The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious is comprised of 30 half-hour episodes that focus on attainable solutions to environmental issues. The show’s creators, Tad Fettig, and Karena Albers of kontentreal, along with cinematographer Robert Humphreys, traveled the world to allow their audiences to get an inside look at projects such as: solar energy in rural Bangladesh; Brazil’s successful ethanol rollout and; how an industrial landscape turned into a sustainable development in Amsterdam, and more. Pitt has lent his voice to their series on sustainable design and transport. Transportation includes mores than just the movement of people around cities and the world, but also movement of all the products we purchase, and moving the different pieces that go into each product.

4. He Spoke at Congress with a Green Building Agenda

Accompanied by Hollywood producer Steve Bing and political strategist Chad Griffin, Pitt headed to Washington, D.C. to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about the Make It Right Foundation’s sustainable housing project in New Orleans and to discuss the possibilities of federal funding. Rep. James Clyburn, House Majority Whip and head of the Hurricane Katrina-Rita Task Force, expressed his appreciation for Pitt’s charity, which the actor and Bing helped finance with a $5 million donation each. Pitt’s pitch happened to coincide with the debate in the House of Representatives over the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, offering relief from foreclosures. The trip was action packed: Senator Reid announced plans for a green power energy bill, proposing the Federal government’s support of connecting renewable energy to the nation’s electrical grid with solar, wind and hydrothermal power, and Pitt’s party also met with Energy Czar Carol Browner.

5. He Co-Founded Not On Our Watch

Along with fellow philanthropists and actors George Clooney and Matt Damon, Pitt founded Not On Our Watch. From their website:

Our mission is to focus global attention and resources towards putting an end to mass atrocities around the world. Drawing upon the powerful voices of artists, activists, and cultural leaders, Not On Our Watch generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for the vulnerable, marginalized, and displaced. We encourage governing bodies to take meaningful, immediate action to protect those in harm’s way. Where governments remain complacent, Not On Our Watch is committed to stopping mass atrocities and giving voice to their victims.

6. He Founded the Jolie-Pitt Foundation with Angelina Jolie

This power couple has been working their magic all over the globe the last few years, and when they started having children, the giving didn’t stop. When Shiloh Jolie-Pitt was born, the couple earned $4.1 million for exclusive rights to the first photos. What did they do? They turned around and donated those funds to African children charities. In 2006, Pitt and Jolie established the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes around the world. They have made donations in the millions to Global Action for Children, Doctors Without Borders, Daniel Pearl Foundation, and the UN Refugee Agency. Via ::  Wikipedia .

7. He Could Spark a Green Building Revolution

Brad Pitt, Tom Darden (the CEO of Make it Right), and S. Richard Fedrizzi, the President of the US Green Building Council, all attended the Clinton Global Initiative this year to report on the progress of Make it Right, which so far has brought 13 LEED certified homes to the 9th Ward in New Orleans. Darden sat down with TreeHugger at CGI and spoke to his hope that the project will inspire the green building community–and that it can help answer the question of how to rebuild scattered home sites under any conditions: neighborhoods hit by natural disaster, foreclosed developments, and so on. The project helps New Orleans residents move back to their hometown, to live in green homes (and save hundreds of dollars on their electric bills), and the world gets an example of how green building is the indisputable future of development. And that’s how Brad Pitt (and Fedrizzi and Darden, of course) may help ignite a green building revolution.