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Brad Pitt pledges $5 million for green homes in New Orleans

Posted at 6:47 AM on 27 Sep 2007

At the third annual Clinton Global Initiative philanthropic soiree yesterday, actor Brad Pitt pledged $5 million in matching funds to build about 150 green homes in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, one of the most troubled areas in the city. "We're going to help make it right with 150 sustainable, affordable houses -- houses that stand out for their design both aesthetically and structurally, so that these people can live in beautiful safe structures that respect their spirit and provide a good quality of life," said Pitt. Real-estate bigwig Steve Bing also pledged $5 million in matching funds for the effort. Other green announcements at the CGI included power company Florida Power & Light unveiling its plans for a 300-megawatt solar thermal plant, as one part of a $2.4 billion initiative. That broad initiative would also see an additional solar thermal plant in California, and would provide millions in funding to help power users reduce their consumption. Still other funding pledged at the high-profile conference included money for education and health initiatives for especially needy areas around the world.

sources: E! News, Los Angeles Times, St. Petersburg Times, Reuters

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Comments: (3 comments)

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Pitt Homes

I'm hoping that Mr. Pitt will consider the floating homes concept that is in use in the Netherlands. Given the direction we are heading in in terms of climate change, I think that is a necessary part of the "green" definition in this case. Otherwise, you're building flotsam and wasting carbon.

Bill B.

by bburtis at 11:44 AM on 27 Sep 2007

Bill's got a point.

The Greenland ice sheet has enough water to raise sea level by seven meters, which would pretty much submerge New Orleans. And there's a good chance it will be liquid by 2040 (I believe the article I read said "give or take a decade").

Hey Bill, any idea how floating homes handle things like pipes?

You can get info on how much a given rise in sea level will affect the topography of any particular area at http://flood.firetree.net/ . Pretty simple procedure: Find the area you want on the map, zoom in, and then adjust the "sea level rise" to see if it goes under.

by Pathos at 7:04 PM on 27 Sep 2007

Pitts homes don't float

Way to go Brad. Your heart is in the right place. Problem though is when the levies break again. (Not if but when).

The Dutch might have the answer.

All buildings need foundations and when foundations have built-in floatation they float. Netherlands have 20,000 floating homes and many more are under development.

Let the waters come.

Allan Dobie MEDes

by adobie at 2:26 PM on 02 Oct 2007
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