Much like PETAs "I'd rather go naked than wear fur campaign" I don't think exploiting women for an environmental cause is really an improvment.

I've worked in the film business for some 15 years and have my own pro "cinema" video camera (Panasonic AG-DVX100A). Anyone wanting to make environmental movies, give me a holler.

Just as you said, doing the same thing wil give the same results.

Continuing to promote products and services with "babes" will simply support the mindset that devalues women as people and overemphasizes their bodies. We're not saving the planet if we're harming half the humans who live here.

although i haven't seen the calendar, hearing about it reminds me of an article in the fall '06 issue of bitch magazine, page 29 titled "tree so horny: can sex sell environmentalism?" which talks about a pornographic website where the proceeds go to environmental groups, victoria's dirty secret, the peta nudity, and other sex based activism, and questions whether this is the best route to take.

i like the idea of trying new ideas to draw attention to the environment, i just hope the calendar isn't typical sports illustrated swimsuit issue ultra softcore cheesecake and shows these women respectfully. celebrating their beauty as oppposed to exploiting it.

Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who knows, who has been using this tactic to draw attention and controversy to issues for years... consider this... it's been like this for centuries... the French revolution had its Marianne, with breast bare on the barricades, rallying the troops... These debates don't even really take place in Europe, unless somebody really takes it over the limit of good taste... consider this, in Europe where there is much less repression of sensuality in daily life, there is also a lot less bottom basement pornography like there is in this country... healthy sexual feelings do not require remorse and closets... I love women, I love women in state of undress, I love women who also embody an ideal I can identity with... Green models? Bring it on... I wish they would all be green models, and you know I'm not all talk... look at the nude modeling career of www.katlove.com Everyone of her nude photographs in nature shine perfect harmony with the elements... what more beautiful statement do you want... those who get offended by this should look at their own lives, and stop pestering the rest of us who love and feel for life!

This is Betty Biodiesel putting my .02 in on this comments list because I actually have been dancing around and MCing on festival stages in Northern Ca (where it is known for its progressiveness) and doing it with a sunflower on my head, and more recently bootie shorts, short top, etc. I love my body and take care of it by eating well, no drugs, etc. If I can be portrayed in the calendar as a fun loving ecobabe so that my message of getting biodiesel in our school buses can be heard than I am all for it. I also struggle with the desire to show my utmost respect for the women who struggled to gain equality with men for so long. However we are entering a new era where the work done so long ago is paying off...so now what? If there is a calendar of men, women or children do we all wear paper bags over our heads or burlap sacks. What about the reality that before we go out to a social gathering we carefully consider what we wear or look like because we want to be seen as beautiful??

Hmm good to get us talking.

oh and it would be great if anyone reading this went to our website and bought a calendar since ALL proceeds go to support schools, governments and businesses in Sonoma County to reduce green house gases.

Like it or not the sports illustrated calendar girls are doing thier thing making buckets of money and none of it goes to supporting the continuation of life on this planet. I feel it is important to get a much higher perspective of reality rather than aiming arrows at the ones working to do right.

Thanks for your support and engagement in the discussion of women thier role, how we should be recognized
(hmm new paradigm our typical uber models and thier high salaries being replaced by ecomodels where they get to live on no more than 100K per year and the rest going to eco or social causes...NOW THAT"S SEXY!)

It's about reclaiming the words babe, modeling, eco, beautiful...

Teresa said that this calendar is "exploiting women".

I looked up the word exploit in the dictionary and came up with these three meanings:

1) make full use of and derive benefit from (a resource)

2) use (a situation or person) in an unfair or selfish way

3) benefit unfairly from the work of (someone), typically by overworking or underpaying them

So, I'd like to ask Teresa: To which meaning were you referring?

The calendar is simply BEAUTIFUL! You all should take a look. Great discussion, and all, but some of it really just doesn't apply to this calendar. These models aren't "professional" models, but they ARE rolemodels. They are the real women working on this amazing campaign and living their lives in an eco-friendly manner. They are photographed doing what they love and care about, looking beautiful (most fully clothed and all very tasteful), and they each explain why they consider themselves Eco-Babes. Nothing about it detracts from it's intent. It is truly inspiring.