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Loading...How ‘Green’ Can a Giant Mansion Be?
It’s not really news that another super rich celebrity couple has built a $20 million mansion. That is pretty standard in a day in the life of the one percent. However, when one of these millionaires (excuse me, almost-billionaires) considers herself an eco-activist, I start to question.
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen and her NFL quarterback husband Tom Brady have just completed their $20 million home in the Los Angeles area. The 22,000 square foot mansion includes “eight bedrooms, a six-car garage, wine cellar, weight room, and a lagoon shaped swimming pool.”
But don’t worry, the couple has taken a few measures to ensure that their pad is ‘green.’ Their gargantuan house includes both solar panels and a rainwater recovery system.
Kudos to Gisele and Tom. Seriously. I’m not trying to begrudge them their success. But I must ask the question. Can solar panels and rain water collection negate the environmental and social impact of a giant mansion? In a culture that encourages everyone to constantly buy more stuff, isn’t an unnecessarily huge house a waste of resources and space? Many people agree that the most environmentally sustainable house is a small house.
What do you think? Is Gisele’s move inherently hypocritical? Or should we applaud her for at least attempting to make her home eco-friendly?
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Read more: gisele bundchen, rainwater collection, solar panels, sustainable building, tom brady
Photo from Tiago Chediak via Wikimedia
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126 comments
+ add your ownIt is disgusting and obcene for any one family to have such a big house, green or no green. No one needs all that. Get a reasonable house that fits your needs and with the rest of that money you could build several houses for those who are homeless.
Even a house that big could've been so much 'greener' given their resources. What kind of raw materials did they use? How did they alter the natural land to create foundations? Do they actually have the kind of lifestyle that can justify needing all those bedrooms? (Who knows? Maybe the do sleep eight on a regular basis??)
If I had that kind of money I'd do it differently.
How and why does anyone need a 22 000 square foot home? I live in one that's about 1000 square feet. I designed a dream home that would allow my wife and me the three kids we dream of having, each with their own rooms, a private office for each of us, and plenty of room to entertain guests. It came to slightly over 2000 sq feet.
Conspicuous consumption is not green.
It is a waste of resources. If they have so much money they don't know what else to do with it, there are a tremendous amount of starving children that they could help to have a decent life.
Super models and athletes are obviously payed too much money!
I want to know why they need 8 bedrooms. Are they planning to have that many kids?
I'd get worn out walking in that big of a house. Not to mention, that I'd probably get lost. LOL.
My hope is that when the people come to realized that the 1% has been riding on the backs of the poor and the poor middle class, that they go house hunting.
Yes, house hunting...with torch in hand. Think of it as a poor mans no-knock law.
It's a good effort, but why do you need such a big house?
What if they rent some of their rooms and then donate the money for a good cause? There are many people that aren't as lucky as they are and can't afford basic living needs.
I don't believe that a house that big can be good for the environment. I wonder how many trees were destroyed to provide this couple with their space.
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