The crowd of activists, celebrities, and donors laughed appreciatively. These are good times for the environmental movement, even if they’re lousy for everyone else. Two years ago, this event felt like a gathering of the French Resistance. This year, with Obama in the White House, the NRDC’s only fear was that it might somehow fail to capitalize on this tantalizingly opportune moment and tackle everything from climate change to landfill management.
As Baldwin put it, “Even Rush Limbaugh is recycling his old arguments.”The giddy mood was reflected in the choice of honorees: David Zaslav, the appealingly nerdy C.E.O. of Discovery channel, who was fêted with a video montage that featured footage of Man vs. Wild host Bear Grylls biting into a gigantic pus-filled worm (please tell us those were special effects, guys), and fur-and-leather-free fashion designer Stella McCartney, who was introduced by her dad, the one and only Sir Paul.
No bearded forest gnomes chained to old-growth redwoods for this group; these are high-achieving creative professionals who are making changes that others can reasonably be expected to emulate.
“She’s a very smart, very clever, very brave girl,” Paul McCartney told me when I asked about his daughter’s honor.
When she first started in the fashion business, she was with Gucci, which was a leather universe. And she had to be very brave. And I must say I wondered how long she would last. I thought she might have to cave in. But you know what? She never did, and she never will. She&apos;s now setting the trend.
Stella, for her part, accepted the honor with a heartfelt speech in which she thanked her husband and children for enabling her be a “working mum,” and declared, “I’m a great believer that we are animals, and we have to live in harmony with the animals.” Hear hear.
NBC was heavily represented in the audience as well as at the podium: Lorne Michaels, Fred Armisen (with Elisabeth Moss), and Kristin Wiig of Saturday Night Live were there, as were Matt Lauer (whose arm was still in a cast following his cycling collision with a deer), Bob Woodruff, and Jeff Zucker. NRDC chairs Graydon and Anna Carter sat with co-chairs Barry Diller, Diane Von Furstenberg, Vivi Nevo, and Zhang Ziyi. Also in the crowd were Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Wendi Deng, Tom Freston, and Jeff and Justine Koons.
NRDC president Frances Beinecke said the organization is focusing all its efforts on preparing for the next UN conference on climate change, set to take place at the end of the year in Denmark. Judging from the enthusiasm and combined clout of those assembled last night, there&apos;s every reason to hope that Copenhagen won&apos;t be another Kyoto.