Sarah Jane Morris Is Eco-Committed
If there’s a crown for the nicest actress in Hollywood, Sarah Jane Morris should be wearing it. Not only did she show up twice in support of our EcoStiletto Green Girls’ Night Out for Dress for Success events—even donating a pair of her beloved shoes to the cause—but the “Seven Pounds” and “Brothers and Sisters” star apologized so profusely for being inadvertently late to an interview that she made us feel mean for even mentioning it! But after sharing secrets of dumpster diving for veggie diesel with husband and Rooney drummer Ned Brower and being accused of shoplifting for bringing her own (reusable) bag, we learned that this ecoista’s not only very nice, she’s very, very eco-friendly.
ES: Tell us how you ended up in that sweet veggie-diesel Mercedes you drove to the EcoStiletto Green Girls’ Night Out event last month.
SJM: The car kind of just happened. My sister-in-law, Jesse Kamm, is a designer, and my brother-in-law is an environmental scientist, he’s building an eco-resort in Panama. They were the first ones to get a veggie mobile. They were our guinea pigs—we watched them for a year and saw how cool it was and how it wasn’t such a big deal. So I started looking on eBay for old Mercedes and found one in Arizona and got it to L.A. and took it to LoveCraft, the place where they do the conversions to veggie diesel—although I think a lot of people are doing the conversions now. That was about two years ago.
In the beginning you’re supposed to run it on clean, new vegetable oil, so I used to go to Costco and buy 40 gallons of soybean oil. I’d be in the check out line and people would be looking at me like what are you doing? After a couple of months we switched over to used veggie oil. We get all of our grease from restaurants that throw it out.
ES: How does that work?
SJM: Well, my husband gets up early on Monday mornings and gets it! We used to spend hours driving around looking for spots, but now we have our little route.
He was on tour for a while last year so I had to get my own grease. One night last spring I was working on “Seven Pounds” and I did a night shoot. I was driving back from Echo Park at like five in the morning and the sun was coming up and it was my birthday and I thought this would be a great time to go get some grease! So I went home, changed into my dirty clothes and loaded up the containers. I went from working with Will Smith to running around dumpster diving behind restaurants. On my birthday. Ridiculous.
ES: What kind of restaurants give you the best grease?
SJM: Sushi places. This one near us has high volume and they dump their grease a lot. Mexican places will fry tortilla chips over and over so you get more debris. Sushi restaurants fry the tempura just a few times and then dump the grease. It’s very clean.
ES: Does one kind of grease smell different than another?
SJM: No, I can’t tell the difference.
ES: So fast food veggie-diesel doesn’t smell like French fries?
SJM: That’s a myth. I don’t notice the smell unless I’m in a place where others will—like at a valet. And then I think my car smells good! So much better than exhaust.
ES: When did you start getting involved in eco-consciousness?
SJM: I’ve been recycling and using canvas bags for a long time but I think the turning point was seeing “An Inconvenient Truth.” It really was an eye-opener. And I remember one day at a grocery store when I overheard a manager telling an employee to order bags for the week and they ordered like 10,000 bags. For one week. I thought where do all those bags go? At one point I was thinking plastic bags biodegrade and then my brother-in-law explained to me that even stuff that is organic matter that they say will break down in a landfill, at this point there’s no sun or air that gets to it so nothing breaks down.
There’s no excuse, you know? I want to have children one day. I’d like for my kids to not even have to think about it. It’s hard to change your habits, I know. But we have to start cleaning our act up for the future generations. I can’t believe I still see parents just watch their kids litter. I mean, come on!
The car was probably the biggest thing that started making me get excited about it. We also try to drive as little as possible—biking, walking, carpooling all take a little more effort but are so much more rewarding. And that means less grease hunting too!
Recently, we got a worm compost and started composting everything. Now we’re planting an organic vegetable garden. My husband is working on building the raised beds now, can you hear him hammering? I have a friend who has this website called CityFarm. One day he invited me up to his house because he has chickens and I really want to get chickens. He’s a talent manager and works in the industry but he’s like Martha Stewart! His house is in the middle of Hollywood but you walk in and it’s just this amazing garden. It looks like a regular garden but then you get up close and you realize you can eat everything. He’s got grapevines growing up the side of his house. It’s so amazing and so beautiful. We have a huge orange tree and a fig tree and a peach tree already so we’re on our way.
ES: What are your favorite green fashion labels?
SJM: It’s funny, I feel like that’s something that I’m just now coming around to. I’ve had some media attention about my eco-friendliness and now I can’t be a hypocrite so I’m trying to be a lot more conscious of that stuff too. Plus my sister-in-law being a clothing designer, she’s brought a lot of awareness to me about that side of the industry, how horrible places are like Forever 21. My sister-in-law hand-draws all her prints and screens her own fabric. She has a sewer here in L.A. who she pays very well and takes good care of.
It’s hard to resist but places like Target and Wal-Mart have taken so much quality away from garments. And then you look at how people are being treated. It’s contributing to that disposable lifestyle that we’ve gotten accustomed to. I think people just think this shirt was five dollars so when it falls apart I’ll just throw it in the trash. People just don’t think about where stuff goes. I’m getting more into that. And trying to support designers who are being eco-responsible. If it means spending a little more money and buying less that’s fine. I’d much rather have a beautiful garment that I’ve spent money on that I feel good about wearing than 60 t-shirts or polyester things from Target.
The other night I was wearing J Brand green jeans that I was so excited about—they’re so cute! And I love Leila Hafzi. [Editor’s note: Sarah is wearing a Leila Hafzi shirt in the photo below.] Oh and I just made an eco-fashion purchase, a Stella McCartney for Le Sportsac bag made from recycled plastic. She’s very committed to doing good for the world with her fashion, it seems.
I hate the fact that celebrities are expected to wear something different every time. I get why they do it, it makes the event stand out if you’re in a new outfit. Fortunately I get to borrow a lot of stuff. I’m trying to make more of an effort to wear things that are eco-friendly.
ES: What are the best eco-friendly beauty finds?
SJM: BeautyBlitz.com asked if I would be a celebrity guest editor and I asked if I could review eco-friendly products. I found a line called Caudalie, I was so excited to know that they were eco-friendly, they do this face oil that’s great and a cleansing water. It’s all paraben free and not tested in animals, no animal ingredients. Cargo has really cute stuff and you can put their packaging in your compost! There’s a lotion by REN that’s really nice. Josie Maran makeup, they’re carrying it at Sephora now. I love when you see people who are using their celebrity to do something good for the world.
ES: What’s the biggest green change you’d like to make in your life—even if it’s impossible right now?
SJM: I wish I could become a vegetarian. I know that’s one of the biggest contributors to global warming. I just think that it’s another part of that disposable culture. People just expect to eat meat at each meal—it’s gotten out of control. We try to eat vegetarian one day a week. It’s not that hard to do. But the thought of going full-on veg, I don’t know if I could do it.
ES: What’s your favorite eco-friendly tip our readers should know about?
SJM: Probably the grocery bag thing. I remember in the beginning I wasn’t going to the grocery store at regular times and I’d get there and I’d have left my bags at home. So now as soon as I unload my groceries I put my bags back into the car so they’re always there. And it’s not just at the grocery store. I have these little bags called Baggu, they fit right into your purse they’re so light. When you’re in the drugstore or shopping you have your own bags. Someone thought I was shoplifting at Anthropologie the other day! I was like, no, I just brought my own bag.
I also shred everything, instead of recycling, and use it in my composter or as padding for packages that I’m sending out. And I reuse tissue, ribbon and wrapping paper from gifts—I never buy that stuff anymore!
It takes changing your habits, slowly but surely.
ES: Who’s your eco-idol and why?
SJM: I don’t know if I have one. Ed Begley, maybe? He seems really committed to the cause.
ES: What’s your worst eco-sin?
SJM: Probably my shoe collection. But I did give a pair away to Dress for Success!
