Forrest to forests: Robin Wright Penn the Eco Mom

Loved her in Forrest Gump, and knew that was having lots of dramatic ish with hubby Sean Penn, but other than that... Robin Wright Penn was mostly off my radar. Until... I saw her smiling face in the pages of my new In Style magazine (my reading matter of choice, en route to Punta Cana). She smirked at me from her corner perch, and justifiably so—as she was the host of the soiree that page was dedicated to.

The event was featured on one of those fun party pages, with lots of pictures and quotes courtesy of the highest-profile celebs in attendance. Most likely I would have stopped and read this page regardless of what the event was about or whose face was at the top of the page, but the headline “Eco Mom Alliance charity event…” especially caught my eye.

At that point I wasn’t quite sure what an “eco mom” was (although I could make some educated guesses), but I was proud to see that Jenn-ay was so involved. (Or, at least involved enough to let the organization publicize that “she” was “hosting.”) Luckily for me, In Style magazine had a preemptive star-burst that held the key to all of my questions: “For more information, go to ecomom.com”

The Eco Mom Alliance was created with the idea in mind that throughout history, when a crisis occurred women have never been afraid to step up and do whatever needed to be done in order to protect their family. In light of current environmental issues happening across the world, it was decided that women needed to take collective action NOW in order to provide the best future possible for their immediate families and children everywhere. With her childrens’ future in mind, Robin Wright Penn looked at the current situation in much the same way I do, “I get way too overwhelmed if I focus on the larger global picture. But as a mom, I can do these small things and know I’m doing something positive and protective.” I’m not a mom (yet), but I whole-heartedly agree that making a bunch of little changes can add up, and especially like the idea of wanting to do something instead of feeling helpless and doing nothing.

Through the Eco Mom website, there are different points of interest for all sorts of moms, from coupons for organic products, "green" shopping tips, to charity sites in place to offer help to problems worldwide, and instructional videos where Robin Wright Penn herself demonstrates proper composting methods.

Props to Robin Wright Penn (and her publicist) for riding high through the scandals, maintaining her dignity, and re-emerging with such positivity on to greener pastures...

For a four day work week!

When I was little, I can remember older people saying all sorts of cryptic things that didn’t make sense, with one of the key offenders being the expression “youth is wasted on the young.”

At the time this was a befuddling and slightly offensive thing for someone to say. “How is youth wasted on the young?” I can remember thinking, somewhat hurt, “Weren’t you young once, too? Was that a waste also?”

Now that I’m a bit older, a tiny bit wiser, (and suddenly jealous of 18 year olds that have their whole life ahead of them— I’m 28)—I am starting to appreciate the meaning behind the expression. In short, it just is a way of lamenting how quickly life goes by…

In this vein, it has always seemed like a cruel joke that the majority of our adult lives are spent unhappily doing something other than what we want. Consider; out of the 7 days that make up a week, only 2 of those days are free to be lived however one chooses. You are told during your “prime” working years to work as hard as you can, so that you can save as much money as possible for your life after retirement—so that the period of your life when you are at your physical peak, you are slaving away to prepare for a time when your quality of life may not be so naturally easy. All of this makes it seem to me that the expression should really be something like, “youth is wasted at work.”

After being fortunate enough to schedule and experience such a thing in college, I often day-dream about how awesome it would be in the real world to have a standard work week that consisted of 4 long, hard days, with a 3 day weekend. As I have sadly accepted my “grown-up” status, this fantasy has been mentally filed away, next to the “Surprise! You’re really a princess!” fantasy file.

It goes to show that anything is possible though—as I recently caught wind of news that my idealized 4 day work week scenario was actually a reality, and happening —right now— in major cities across our great country.

Due to budget concerns, the powers that be in Salt Lake City, Utah decided to do something a little different in the hopes of achieving something drastically different. As of August 2008, all state offices have been closed every Friday, in order to cut down the utility expenses by 20%. (One day less a week that the buildings need to be run and maintained.)

As would be expected, the employees loved this. A survey conducted by Brigham Young's Lori Wadsworth found that 82 percent of employees want to keep the four-day workweek. Their pay wasn’t being affected—they were still working 40 hours a week, their previous 8 hour days were extended to 10 hour days—and now their free time was being increased exponentially with which they could exercise, spend time with their families, volunteer, and travel. Aside from improved day to day morale, the new scheduling also seemed to have a positive effect on overall employee health, with fewer instances of sick days. Because of the longer days, productivity actually increased—for instance, there were shorter waits at the DMV due to the longer hours.


Bettering the quality of life for a large group of people is a wonderful thing, but this 4 day plan was implemented for financial gain (always comes back to money), and it is estimated that the city was able to save 1.8 million dollars just from this new scheduling. Having the office buildings closed on Fridays allowed the city to save all of the money that would have gone into keeping the place operational; now there was an entire day less to provide electricity for, an entire day less that the work force needed to be commuting, causing wear and tear on the roads, and an entire day less that required cleaning/security/maintenance services. Since the employees really enjoyed their new schedule, they were doing everything they could to empower the initiative, going so far as to make sure every appliance from computer to coffee maker was unplugged before they left for their long weekends on Thursday night. While the money saved made the local government happy, it was this saving of resources that piqued the environmentalists’ curiosity, and after a year’s time, Scientific American came in to research the effects— good or bad— that this 4 day work week was having on the surrounding environment.

Although the language is nerdier than mine (in my opinion?), I’m not sure I can explain it better that the Scientific American reports:

An interim report released by the Utah state government in February projected a drop of at least 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually from Friday building shutdowns. If reductions in greenhouse gases from commuting are included, the state would check the generation of at least 12,000 metric tons of CO2—the equivalent of taking about 2,300 cars off the road for one year.

And that’s just one nerdy-expert take on the situation. Aaron Newton, a frequent contributor to the GroovyGreen blog, did some different math and came out other inspiring statistics:

Approximately 106 million Americans drive to work alone each day, an average of 16 miles each way. Cutting out one workday's worth of commuting would not only lower U.S. oil imports by 5 to 10 percent, it would also prevent thousands of traffic fatalities, as well as cut down on the costs of road maintenance, since people tend to drive less on weekends. And workers would see a real income boost by saving on gas.

The 4 day work week has been going on in Utah for almost exactly a year at this point, and due to the positive outcomes shown so far, other citiess like New York and Boulder are considering trying it out themselves. (Mayor Bloomberg could nix the stupid soda tax, and save money for his city while keeping them happy.)

From my personal experience, I think this would also have positive implications for the economy from a consumer stand-point. With more free time on their hands, people would be more apt to spend money on fun things, like traveling, shopping, and all sorts of other entertainment ventures. The government could save money, positively affect the environment, make their people happier and more productive, while increasing cash flow into the economy.



Reviewing all of the facts pertaining to a 4 day work week, I can't help but wonder if I am being naive, or biased? Does my personal inclination for this prevent me from seeing the down-side? Clearly not every business could afford to adapt this new 4 day schedule, as restaurants, stores, and other service related industries would have to be open to serve the people who were now off from work, but perhaps the 4 day work weeks could just be staggered a bit (the way days off are now), and the people in those industries would take Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off, since the majority of their clientele would be working on those days anyway.



I'm going to hold out hope that this practice will slowly but surely become a more wide-spread practice, so that we can have more freedom to enjoy more of what life has to offer.

What is this "goop"?

It’s not jealousy speaking, I swear. Instead, it's really more of a mixture of head-shaking confusion and dismay. Granted, she is doing exactly what I want to do, but on a much larger scale. If I had Gwyneth’s assets, my lifestyle blog would definitely be as aesthetically pleasing as hers (if not better☺). At least, I’ll give her credit where it's due, her web-design team did an awesome job, and the site (appearance wise) is super cute.

It’s the content and concept though, behind Gwyenth Paltrow’s new lifestyle blog "GOOP" that leaves me head-scratching…

For instance, where did this name come from?

She named it “GOOP?” Are the 'G' and 'P' for her initials, and she just needed some letters to shove in between? “Gap” was obviously already taken, as were a bunch of other G&P combos, leaving “GOOP” as the only domain name available that fulfilled her stringent requirements?

What does the name “GOOP” mean?

If you heard that word as the title of a blog, what would you assume the site would be about? Bulk sales of the vintage slime left over from Nickelodeon, Ghostbusters movies, etc? Some weird new kids’ product trying to cash in on the popularity of strangely named things? (Worked for the “Wii”?) Glue porn? I’m really going out on a limb here trying to think of what “GOOP” would be a good title for… and really, I am struggling. Maybe an extension of Rachael Ray’s site, where she shared recipes for things you can make out of mashed up bugs? I would love to be privy to the rationale of the think-tank that came up with this title, and then I’d like to smack them.

What does the tag-line mean?

"Nourish the inner aspect." Trust me girrrl, if I knew what the heck my inner aspect was, I'd be feeding it! Mmmhmm!

I explored her site, hoping to stumble across some sort of mission statement, but was unable to find anything that satisfactorily explained what this site was about. What I did find though, was a link to “little black dresses” under her “GET” section. Intrigued, I checked it out and was rewarded with a scroll-down fashion show of Gwynnie looking all sorts of cute in outfits that revolve around little black dresses. I love this concept, and had fun looking at the outfits her stylists obviously put together for her. But, this was also when the serious eye-rolling began.

It’s great for someone who is considered a fashion icon (or, who at least considers themself to be a fashion icon) shares their fashion tips with the world. Advice on styling a bunch of different looks out of one article of clothing could be very helpful, especially when it's based on a piece most people already have hanging in their closets. Unless of course, the down-to-earth fashionista features clothing consisting of labels such as Balenciaga, Chanel, Gucci, YSL, and Christian Louboutin, and other haute-couture brands that are well beyond the average persons’ means of attaining.

In times of economic distress, it seems so wrong to advertise designer pieces that almost no one can afford. Manipulating people into wanting things that are way out of their price-ranges is partially what got us into this financial trouble to begin with. (And- do you think the people that can afford this stuff even give a moment’s thought about Gwyneth Paltrow’s lame web-site as a source of fashion ideas? Like, Olivia Palermo wakes up before work, and when she can’t figure out what to wear she’s thinks to herself, “Oh, I know! I’ll check out Gwyneth’s site and see what outfits she would think are cool!” Um, no chance.) This is really her advice for girls who want to live like her environmentally-conscious self?

To be fair, her reasons for why she wanted the site are sound. In her own words, “GOOP is a collection of experiences of what makes life good. My life is good because I am not passive about it. I want to nourish what is real, and I want to do it without wasting time. I love to travel, to cook, to eat, to take care of my body and mind, to work hard. I love being a mother who has to overcome my bad qualities to be a good mother. I love being in spaces that are clean and nice.”

Somewhere between her (alleged) web-site inspiration and her web-site actualization, things went horribly awry. Combining her celebrity and resources, she really does have an excellent opportunity to make a great web-site that can expose lots of people to good ways of living stylishly "green." If she wants "GOOP" to be anything more than a short-lived pop-culture joke reference, she needs to do 2 things (yes, I consider myself an expert now):

1. Get realistic about who her target audience is!
2. Be much more clear about why her site exists. What are her goals in having this site? What does she hope to accomplish with "GOOP" beyond making money and creating tons of GOOPy clones? (Ew.)

All I can say is- the way things are now, her road to hell is paved with "goop" intentions…