Fur, fur. Our readers recently feverishly debated its re-use, and particularly the "fur is ugly" rhetoric -- you know, the strategy of making any use of fur completely unfashionable and repulsive to stem demand. Now our friends at Ecorazzi tell us that Christina Ricci has denounced past fur flaunting after a PETA wag of the finger and a fan site shut-down. Given Ricci's indie fan base, her public fur-love always seemed a bit surprising. Perhaps this niche makes her more susceptible to PETA's admonitions?

Since we TreeHuggers are in the business of making "Green" fun and friendly, the fur conversation brings up the role of shame in this "environmental lifestyle" world we inhabit. Many of us have escaped environmental communities defined to a large degree by guilt and condemnation. Conversations like that around the recent NY Green Drinks party feel alarmingly familiar. As eco-issues ease further into the mainstream, what's the right balance when we want to make a long-term impact and convince people that conventional cotton is dirty, SUVs are lame and McMansions are dumb, for instance? How much shame is too much? ::Ecorazzi