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Well, another year of the Oscars have come and gone this year and the excitement associated with these awards still linger. The stars turned out in droves for this special night to watch and applaud as some of their own took home awards and others returned empty handed. But what was noticeable missing at Oscar ceremony number 81, something that was highly publicized during Oscar ceremony number 79 and relatively downplayed but present all the same at Oscar ceremony number 80, was the presence of the color green.

Yeah, we all know that the carpet is red and the statuette gold and that hardly any of the stars choose to dress in flashy green, but that’s not what I’m talking about. In fact, I’m referring to the impact the award ceremony makes on  global warming and global awareness for the same. The 79^th Oscars held in 2007 saw the arrival of stars in hybrids like Prius and an emphasis on green procedure:

• The Academy purchased renewable energy credits to compensate for the 250,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions that is normally associated with the ceremony and the events that lead up to it.
• The Academy honored Al Gore’s documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, with two Oscars.
• An effective program was set up for recycling and waste management, and comprehensive efforts were made to use eco-friendly material.
• Hybrid vehicles were used for transportation and the Kodak theatre itself was designed to minimize the use of energy.
• The stars too played a stellar role in highlighting the need for eco-friendly measures in order to contribute to a greener planet and to reduce global warming.

The 80^th awards ceremony also tried to keep up with the precedent set the previous year with renewable wind power being used to generate energy for the event, a mix of biodiesel being used to fuel the generators, hybrids and other zero-emission cars being used to transport guests and stars, and the adoption of other green procedures like recycling.

But this year’s ceremony was noticeably silent on the need for green and that raises the question, WHY? We’re certainly not in a better situation, environment-wise, that we were two years ago. So why was there no mention of eco-friendly measures, if they were ever taken at all? Is it because of the recession and the need to downsize the celebrations? We all know that going green means spending more than normal, but when it’s for the larger benefit of mankind, we assume that Hollywood and the Academy are not going to be pinching pennies.

It’s not very flattering to the rest of us common citizens, but it’s unfortunately true – we all tend to ape the stars – we want to dress like they do, look as hot as they do, and do what they do. So the best way to raise awareness of any project would be to get famous people to endorse it. And when global warming found a place in the hearts of the voices that mattered, we rejoiced thinking that this would be a sustained project. But with the interest dwindling off at the Oscars this year, how do you expect the rest of the world to follow suit?

Global warming is a very real threat, one that hangs above us like a Damocles sword. If we ignore this peril, we’re in danger of losing everything we have, because without a world to live in, how can we as a species expect to survive? It’s time the people who are able to make a difference started pulling their weight and actually began to make a difference.