Daryl Hannah on Green Living

Daryl on the Mesa Outside of T-ride

The breakdown of Daryl’s biodiesel car left her nearly stranded in Montrose, the largest city in the region situated about an hour and a half from Telluride.  Clearly she was not going to make it to the KOTO studios in time to do a Travel Fun interview with me, so we chatted on the phone together instead.  (Daryl was actually holed up inside one of the teepees at the Ute Indian Museum, an interesting place that I have yet to visit.)

A few technical difficulties challenged me back at the studio.  I was pulling together a live program—a rarity in the almost five years I’ve been doing radio—and my button pushing faltered somewhat, particularly at one point when I forgot to turn off the DJ mike during the musical break.  Half of my phone conversation with another caller was broadcasted on the airwaves.  Fortunately I wasn’t chatting about anything too private!  I continued with more music from the “Kill Bill,” soundtrack for the second musical break, overlooking a cut that requires keen censorship.  A few F-words later, I said a big “ooops” and hoped that the FCC wasn’t tuned in.  Daryl was more than gracious throughout the whole interview, particularly during my assorted goof ups.  Thankfully, she clearly has a tender attachment to KOTO, Telluride’s own community radio station.

In addition to her memorable performances in the original “Blade Runner,” “Splash,” “Wall Street,” and more recently the “Kill Bill” series, Daryl has been busy championing causes and spreading the word about green living.  She is a keen environmentalist.  And this is not so new because Daryl has been a vegetarian since the age of eleven.  

Actually Daryl is turned off by the green word.  Just like with organic and sustainable, she thinks those words are overused.  “They really don’t take into account the social connectedness of things,” Daryl emphasizes.  “You need to consider the social aspect of everything.”

Daryl practices what she preaches when she can.  “I’m trying to get off of fossil fuels and the grid as much as possible,” she says.  In addition to zipping around the mountains in her not-so new—but souped up—biodiesel car, Daryl lives in a one-bedroom home out here on a mesa, a simple house built from an old barn that was going to be torn down.  “It’s solar powered, nontoxic and as sustainable as possible,” she says.  Many organic elements have been incorporated into the interior and exterior design including a “couch” made from locally gathered, moss-covered rocks.  “I just pull off the cushions and spray wash it down every once in a while,” Daryl chuckles.

Blonde Beauty Modeling a Chain Mail Purse Made from Soda Pop Pull Tab Tops by a Womens' Artisan Co-Op in Brazil

I imagine Daryl’s Telluride home to be fairly minimalist.  “I subscribe to the church of stop shopping,” she revealed.  She thinks people are better off wearing old clothes and making them cool by stenciling them.  She’s also an advocate of consignment stores.  “Growing cotton for one T-shirt requires much too much water for that to be a sustainable product,” she explains.  I unfortunately didn’t have a chance to tell her that I believe in buying quality products that you treasure forever.  That’s the French way.  Buying in quantity is more of an American addiction.

Daryl Chillin' with DHLoveLife.com

Daryl’s Web site is a good place to go to inform yourself about living less conspicuously on this planet.  It’s also fun and the best way to get to know the real Daryl Hannah.  You can shop there for some of her hand-chosen products such as an aluminum water bottle and a travel essential bag filled with most of her favorite travel must-haves including a safe sunscreen (most are carcinogenic), arnica (good for sore muscles), Super Salve, an ultra-rich balm that’s great for lubricating nostrils and such before, during and after airplane travel and more along with other terrific products.  (Daryl also likes to bring sage from the mesa with her on her travels, but you’ll have to round up some of that on your own.)

Ecotourism is a term that Daryl feels is getting overused as well.  She encourages people to look closely at places that promise to be green.  For her, it’s important that ecoresorts exhibit a real connectedness with the local community.  Hotelito Desconocido in Mexico and Al Karm and Babata, two ecolodges in Egypt, all destinations that Daryl features on her video blogs, are resorts committed to fostering a mutually beneficial relationship with their environs.  

Daryl also encourages people to go to our National Parks more “cause nobody uses them.”  She cited the Channel Islands, off the coast of California, as an example of a rare site little known to people.  Her “Natural Wonder” video blog on her Web site documents this unique place and its habitat.  

She’s also done a number of video blogs on people that have inspired her, people that she considers to be her heroes.  In one of the video blogs, Daryl visits with Richard Branson, a well-known English business magnate, but also one of the world’s leading investors in renewable energy and resource efficiency technology.

At this year’s Telluride Film Festival, Daryl met Paul Watson, a tireless environmentalist dedicated to the protection of animal rights.  He was here showing his film, “Pirates of the Sea.”  Daryl plans to join up with Paul soon on his ship, and from the way she talked, I suspect he’ll soon be featured as one of her “heroes,” too.  

For now, however, Daryl is in London filming “Blind Man’s Bluff” with the English actor Tom Conti.

Ute Indian Museum, Montrose, Colorado, 970-249-3098, www.coloradohistory.org/hist_sites/UteIndian/Ute_indian

Daryl’s Web site is www.dhlovelife.com

Al Karm Ecolodge, Mount Sinai, Egypt, www.awayaway-sinai.net/main/st.%20katherine_sub/al_karm

Babata Ecolodge; I’m working on finding a link!

Hotelito Desconocido, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 800-013-1313, www.hotelito.com

National Park Service, Channel Islands, www.nps.gov/chis

Daryl’s Book Picks

Anything by Michael Pollan.  “I think they should be mandatory reading for everyone,” Daryl says.  She particularly recommends “The Omnivore’s Dilemma:  A Natural History of Four Meals” and his recent book, “In Defense of Food:  An Eater’s Manifesto.”

Daryl also enjoys reading books that tell the story of the people and the place she’s visiting.  “Love in the Time of Cholera,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for example, is her suggestion for travels to South America.