It's time for the Oscars! Spotting celebrities on the red carpet is one of the biggest deals in the movie industry each year. But did you know since the 79th Academy Award last year, when Al Gore's environmental climate change wakeup call film An Inconvenient Truth was awarded Best Documentary, the Oscars has also become very environmentally aware. As green celeb Leonardo DiCaprio announced at the ceremony, the production of this grand event has been planned and executed with "ecologically intelligent" strategies. This year, apart from the standard practice of buying up energy carbon credits to offset carbon emissions, they've come up with even more plans to keep the grandeur earth-friendly:

100% of the energy used for the telecast, the red-carpet arrivals show and the Governors Ball will be supplied by renewable windpower.
All generators used for the production, for press support and the red carpet arrivals area are powered by a fuel mix that includes biodiesel.
Among the vehicles made available by General Motors for use by production staff and presenters are zero-emission hydrogen-powered cars and hybrids.
Nearly all food serviceware for events associated with the Awards Presentation are either reusable or biodegradable/compostable.
The programs, invitations, RSVP cards, envelopes, parking passes and other printed materials include a minimum of 30% postconsumer recycled content.

Not only has the event itself taken part, superstars are also making an effort to go green. Magnificent-looking limousines can emit almost double the amount of than normal cars and plenty of stars like Natalie Portman, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Lord of the Ring hottie Orlando Bloom, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow know better, going for the eco-option - energy efficient hybrids. Let's see if Oscar winner Hilary Swank, who rode a bicycle with her husband to the alternative Spirit Awards ceremony a few years ago, will do the same for the Oscars.

The movie industry has actually made quite a big move towards become more eco-friendly. Not only have there been environmental themes, such as in The Day After Tomorrow and The Arctic Tale, if you look carefully at the end of movies, many of them now sport a line at the end credits to state that it was a carbon neutral production.

The eco-movement has even moved into our Mainland. – in January the new Green Film Movement was inaugurated in Beijing. And on 5th June-World Environment Day-the first annual China International Environmental Film Week and Environmentally Friendly DV Competition (中國國際環境電影周暨環保DV大賽) will kick off. This will be Asia's biggest environmentally-oriented film Event and Jackie Chan is heading the festival's committee, while director Feng Xiaogang (The Banquet) is president of the jury team that includes other well-known filmmakers.

Okay, it's our turn now. We may not be superstars, but there's no excuse anymore - it's everyone's job to help save our planet. How much carbon are you smothering the planet with? (Register and try out our Carbon Calculator here)? Can you do better? Come back next week for more on our world's climateering efforts!

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