Playboy’s Green Gala

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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This September, the Playboy Mansion will host a bash to benefit the environment—making it the latest unlikely bedfellow of the green movement.

The swanky cocktail gala, co-hosted by the Entrepreneurs Organization, promises celebrity sightings (it’s sponsors include Billy Zane and Matthew Modine), casino games and, of course, scantily clad bunnies. At $600 a head, proceeds will benefit the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization, a UN-backed IGO dedicated to developing green technology.

But is this a shining example of eco do-goodery, or yet another case of Tinseltown greenwashing? As Dave Gilson wrote in Mother Jones last year, “(Hollywood is) turning the traditional messages of the environmental movement on their heads, replacing existential anxiety with a relentlessly feel-good, prime-time-ready version of saving the planet.” 

Notes the event’s invitation: “We we will open our doors to celebrities and others that share our desire to celebrate life and promote a better world.”

If only it were that easy.

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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