Soccer moms are trading in Tupperware parties for “Green” parties, according to the NBC “Today” show. But one of the results is a driveway full of gas-guzzling, carbon-emitting SUVs!
“From the plants in her garden to the makeup on her face, Kim Pinkson is all about going green,” Janet Shamlian reported on the April 9 broadcast. “The
Pinkson is the founder of the EcoMom Alliance [1], a non-profit organization that runs environmentalism parties similar in concept to Tupperware or Pampered Chef parties, “without, of course, all the plastic,” Shamlian said.
But Shamlian pointed out one of the problems with getting a group of women together to talk about environmentalism: getting there. “We’re here talking about turning green,” she said to party hostess Michelle Battelle, “and yet the carbon footprint probably on this party is fairly large.”
Battelle joked that she “kind of tripped over the 15 SUVs in the driveway as I was coming up the front door.” And that was the extent of investigation into whether parties like Pinkson’s actually help the environment – or if they’re just another excuse to hang out (and burn gas).
“For all the talk about saving the environment, for the women gathered here this evening is as much about socialization as it is about tips to go green,” Shamlian said.
Ignoring the ill-effects of green events like EcoMom parties is not the first instance of “Today’s” green hypocrisy. The crew has taken carbon-belching flights to the “ends of the earth” [2] for segments on global warming, hired private planes [3] to fly over