Willie Nelson and stars speak up for the planet at Global Green’s pre-Oscar bash

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It was a ‘green’ night in Hollywood on Wednesday as eco-minded celebrities gathered for Global Green USA’s 10th Annual Pre-Oscar Party. Stars such as Orlando Bloom, Miranda Kerr, Helen Hunt, Emmy Rossum (“Shameless”), Ed O’Neil (“Modern Family”), Dylan McDermott (“American Horror Story: Asylum”), Sophia Bush (“One Tree Hill”), D.W. Moffett (“Switched at Birth”), Catt Sadler (“E! News Host”), among others, mingled over dinner followed by a performance by seven-time Grammy Award winner Willie Nelson and his sons Lukas and Micah.

View slideshow: Global Green USA's 10th Annual Pre-Oscar Party

For the past decade, Global Green USA has collaborated with the Hollywood community to raise global awareness for smart climate solutions.

Proceeds from the evening will benefit Global Green USA’s Solar for Sandy initiative to build greener, more resilient homes, schools, and communities in areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

Actress Emmy Rossum, born and bred in New York, expressed her passion behind the cause, “Most of my family was put out of their homes from Hurricane Sandy so I think it’s really important to continue to raise money and awareness for this cause even though its not put on the front page of the news anymore.”

When talking to Global Green Event Co-Founder, Sebastian Copeland, we discussed the most important message to come out of the night’s event. Copeland voiced it was most important, “To show the world, Hollywood, and the media globally, that there is a movement taking place and the people coming here are part of that movement. Global Green has been given an opportunity to express their support, to really send a clear message to Washington and across the oceans - to say that we are not deaf to the issues of climate change.”

When asked what the star’s biggest personal commitment for being green in 2013 was, here’s what they had to say:

Willie Nelson: “We try to buy local, sustainable things. We’ve been doing Farm Aid now for 28 years, so we try to take care of the farmer. He is the most important guy out there. He grows mine and your food and we should take care of him.”

Emmy Rossum: “My biggest commitment for 2013 is recycling and not using as much plastic. There are glass bottles from a company called Bkr - they are fashionable and they make it easy not to have to use so much plastic.”

D.W. Moffett: “I bought a Prius last year. It sounds so simplistic but it’s changed my life in terms of how much gas I’ve used. When I moved to LA, there were days were I couldn’t see the hills because the smog was so bad. That has changed in my lifetime - dramatically, only because of emission standards, only because of gas mileage standards that have been mandated by forward thinking people against the gas industry. It takes that kind of effort to get things cleaned up. My simple tip is: the next car you buy, please think about gas mileage. You can show up to anything in a Prius.”

Cat Saddler: “Let’s be honest. I drive an SUV but my goal is to get into a hybrid this year.”

Deborah Bassett (“Whale Wars”): “I’m already fairly committed! But we can always do better - striving to not making exceptions, refusing plastic…eliminating all single-use plastic completely.”

Angela Lindvall (Model/Actress): “A good portion of the food I eat comes from my garden. It’s so rewarding to plant these miniscule seeds into the earth and harvest. I get my children involved with it so it’s a full cycle. When we do buy food, the majority is from local farmers.”

The overall theme was that if every person did their part to reduce carbon emissions while Washington also showed its commitment to reduce greenhouse gases by necessary legislation, positive change could be made. It’s with this change we can hope for a brighter future for our children and environment.

The featured automotive sponsor was Chevy Volt electric vehicle, which chauffeured many of the attendees to the green carpet. Another major global brand in the green movement is H&M, the world’s second largest fashion retailer. They joined the event as the featured retail sponsor as they showcased their commitment to sustainability through its new global garment recycling program.

Learn more about Global Green USA’s initiatives and its next Citizen Entrepreneur Challenge: Citizen Sandy. Global Green will provide seed funding and technical expertise to the winning project and finalists.