Long live the green

10 green royals 5

What comes to mind when you think of royalty?  Luxurious palaces, the Queen of England, and overused puns on Marie Antoinette’s infamous one-liner?

How about chemical-free gardens, recycling, and sustainable seafood? Ruling families from around the globe are using their media magnetism and sovereign sway to draw attention to a variety of eco-causes, fighting climate change, greening their homelands, and making sure all that cake we’re eating is organic too.

Prince Charles

1. Prince Charles of England

An outspoken proponent of fighting climate change, Prince Charles has an across-the-board interest in environmental issues. He’s advocated for tropical rainforest preservation through The Prince’s Rainforests Project and brought attention to the rapid depletion of global fish stocks.  After moving to the Highgrove country estate in Gloucestershire three decades ago, the prince took interest in back-to-basics farming and converted the Home Farm from conventional to organic food production. Deciding that this sustainable farming thing was a brilliant idea, he started Duchy Originals in 1992 to sell organic and sustainably produced goodies, from British tea classics to organic hair and body products.

 

Vanessa Kerr is an editorial intern at Grist.

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  1. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 10:32 pm
    12 Aug 2009

    It's all well and good for people who do no work and somehow are handed 84 percent of the world's resources to parade around telling the rest of us what a bunch of great guys they are, but seriously, each one of these royal jokes have generated more CO2 by their lifestyle last year than my entire bloodline dating back to when we made shoes or statues for them back in the 13th century.

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  2. Andrée Zaleska's avatar

    Andrée Zaleska Posted 3:53 am
    13 Aug 2009

    Is an honest position towards the needs of the earth ever compatible with wealth?I don't find these people terribly interesting. Like all wealthy philanthropists, their charity is easy--much easier than that of a single mom with three kids who tithes to her church, for example.

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  3. Sallie Posted 2:55 pm
    13 Aug 2009

    As unpalatable as it might be to accept the fact that people are born into all sorts of different circumstances in life, that's the reality. And as ludicrous and unjust as this economic disparity is, maybe the ire should be directed more toward those with "84% of the world's resources" who do nothing with what's been handed to them.

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  4. James-Ian Posted 3:13 pm
    17 Aug 2009

    Please do not forget that your neighbour to the north (and east of Alaska) has strong connections to two of the royal personages discussed: HRH Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Canada, and HRH the Prince Charles is the future King of Canada. So you need not look across the atlantic for "green" heads of state. Incidentally, Prince Charles is also a strong advocate of Smart Growth, green buildings, and other like initiatives through the The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment.

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  5. PeterWinters Posted 9:35 am
    18 Aug 2009

    Hello Vanessa - Thought I would dig out some of our research to show that Prince Charles is the most positively influential political figure, in England, when it comes to climate change.Take a look at -http://haddock-research.blogspot.com/2009/08/prince-charles-is-englands-leading.htmlBest,Peter

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