July 2006 | Go Greener

Beauty and the Blog

By Andi McDaniel

There’s no doubt that Daryl Hannah made a great mermaid—but these days, she’s playing an even more whimsical role: herself. On DHLoveLife.com, her new environmental “vlog” (that’s a video web log, for you non-techno-geeks), Hannah hosts inspiring five-minute mini-documentaries profiling people and places who are living proof of a better world around the bend.

From young cooks at a vegan “junk food” café, to endangered Rwandan mountain gorillas, to the shocking short where Hannah—a longtime renewable energy activist—licks her gas cap to prove her veggie-oil-powered car is truly clean and green, Hannah’s subjects are a fascinating lot, making her urgent message an easy one to swallow. Of course, Hannah’s vlog isn’t just about sounding the planetary alarm—it’s also designed to re-inspire weary activists and bummed-out optimists (a population that’s unfortunately increasing in number).

To date, it’s been just Hannah and one editor running DHLoveLife, during weekends and between takes on the movie the blonde beauty’s shooting in Vancouver, BC. And as for sponsorship—so far, she’s funding it 100 percent herself. “I want it to have the integrity of something that is genuine and unbiased,” she told enviro-webzine Grist in May. Whether or not it qualifies as bonafide journalism is probably beside the point. DHLoveLife is the truth told through Hannah’s eyes, and thanks to her down-to-earth idealism, most of it is good news.

Eco Tip of the Month: Offset A Guilty Conscience

Every year, some 16,000 commercial aircraft pump out 600 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Because planes emit pollution high into the air that enters the ozone layer directly, they’re considerably more damaging to the environment than cars (when emitted at ground level, much of the bad stuff evaporates). Every time you fly the friendly skies, you’re putting almost a ton of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere per passenger.

But not every air flight has to turn into a guilt trip. Carbon offsetting is a system that allows you to buy “credits” to offset the eco-impact of your actions. Each credit represents a dollar investment in projects that reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. And the cost is less than you might expect. The Better World Club (betterworldclub.com), an Earth-friendly alternative to AAA, offers members who book plane tickets through its in-house travel agency free carbon offsets on two domestic and one international flight each year. Nonmembers worldwide can purchase offsets—$11 for a domestic flight and $22 for an international flight. Now that’s worth the price of absolution.

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