While the rest of the Brangelina brood must have been back in Chicago with Angelina as she puts the finishing touches on her new film, “Wanted,” Brad Pitt made a visit to the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans on Tuesday to tour what’s being called “an ecologically sustainable single-family home” which is being built by a company called Global Green USA, an environmental group Pitt lent his name and support to sometime ago.

During a news conference, Pitt said a home in the Holy Cross area of the 9th ward was a “small victory,” but took it one step further by saying Katrina was a “man-made” disaster:

“…it’s hard to find an overall victory when you see how slowly everything is still moving. And Katrina was a man-made disaster. This house is a man-made solution.”

I think it’s fantastic that he’s willing to get involved - that’s a lot more than I can say for most celebs who turn a blind eye to their fellow man, especially in times of desperate need. I give him a lot of respect for his efforts and I applaud what he’s done thus far - I don’t believe his work has gone unnoticed.

However, I’m a little confused by his statement. How is Katrina a “man-made” disaster exactly? Is he speaking of global warming? Does he mean the Government is to blame for the poor condition of the levees pre-Katrina?

Pitt said the city’s flood-protection defenses must be restored before displaced residents feel confident enough to rebuild.

“We’ve got to push to get these levees taken care of in the correct fashion,” he told reporters at a news conference in the hurricane-ravaged working class neighborhood.

In the meantime, Global Green says the house in the Holy Cross area will be a prototype for the neighborhood and they hope to create a community of green, eco-friendly structures.

Global Green hopes to use the house, which should be completed this fall, as a prototype for the neighborhood. Built not far from the banks of the Mississippi River and raised by three feet on concrete pilings, it is above sea level.

[Reuters]

The article wasn’t real clear on whether the prototype home will be made available for a family to actually move into right away, or if it will be more like a model home that will serve has a foundation (no pun intended) for future Global Green homes. That said, I’m wondering how long it takes for a home like this to be built and if it takes longer than a regular ol’ house to be built, do people who desperately need homes in the 9th Ward really care whether their home is eco-friendly or not? I know I wouldn’t - I’d just want a place to lay my head and call my own.

With or without solar panels.

Header picture from MediaBistro via Just Jared.

Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jennifer Garner, Jason Biggs and Sarah Silverman are amond the celebrities that appear in a series of new videos promoting the use of cleaner-burning fuels. There are three ads out produced by the Center for American Progress Action Fund that feature a dorky guy named Phin, a “lone citizen for change” who gets awkward help from the celebrities in his quest. Affleck is featured in the first ad, while Jason Biggs is in the third. Silverman, Damon and Garner will appear in the upcoming segments. The ads are kind of goofy, but if you watch them you get the point and they are entertaining. If you want to learn more about exactly what they’re proposing, it’s in the second video below and/or you can visit their website, CleanMyRide.org.

They want to increase mileage requirements for automobiles in the US and make ethanol and “flex fuel” available at more gas stations.

This seems completely reasonable and attainable, but it will take work and advocacy. In Europe you can get biodiesel gas all over the place. Biodiesel is usually a little less expensive at the pump than regular diesel in Germany. It’s made from vegetable oil such as rapeseed oil, and it has 60% less CO2 emissions than standard diesel, as well as a lot of other environmental benefits. We have more deisel cars here, and there’s a real push to use alternative fuels and cars that get better MPG because gas is so much more expensive. Maybe if Americans started to feel the pinch too they would be more supportive of measures to fund and use alternative fuels.

To learn more and see the new video spots when they’re out you can visit the website CleanMyRide.org