Ellen, please be kind to the planet, not just to your fellow humans, gorillas in Rwanda

LUNCHTIME IN RWANDA: Ellen DeGeneres, right, and wife Portia de Rossi with a mountain gorilla. The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund is supporting global conservation efforts for endangered species.

Talk show host is living large, 
aggravating our climate crisis

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- In these dark times for our environment, comedian Ellen DeGeneres is definitely part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Ellen signs off every episode of her mid-afternoon talk show with "Be kind to one another," and The Ellen Fund raises money to save the mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

But at home in California, Ellen drives noisy German and Italian sports cars or an SUV that guzzle gas and pollute the air with the same emissions that cause tens of thousands of premature deaths every year. 

Last October, Ellen surprised her wife, Portia de Rossi, with a silver Lamborghini -- not a silver Tesla. 

Solar energy?

Not much of a gift, when you consider Ellen chose deadly emissions over zero emissions.

And none of her enormous homes appear to be self-powered, as they could be with rooftop solar panels charging storage batteries that would run them at night.

Or, Ellen could cool and heat her homes using geothermal energy from the ground.

So, sadly, Ellen is aggravating climate change, and the warming that has sparked dangerous wildfires near her California homes and her wife's native Australia.

$77 million a year

That's irresponsible, given that she certainly has the means to convert all of her homes to solar power and geothermal energy, and buy a fleet of Teslas and other zero-emission electric cars.

According to Forbes, Ellen earns $77 million a year for her talk show hosting duties. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is now in its 17th year.

That doesn't include income from another TV production, Ellen's Game of Games, and the money she receives for endorsing several products and services.

LISTED FOR $49 MILLION: This photo of Ellen DeGeneres' Beverly Hills compound (from the Hollywood Reporter) shows the exterior and lack of solar panels. Ryan Seacrest bought the property in 2012. It was listed for $49 million.

$24M beach house

Last July 4, CNBC.com reported Ellen was selling her beach house in Carpinteria, Calif., adding: 

"Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is known as a house flipper, and has bought [more than] 12 houses in 20 years. Take a look at the oceanfront estate ... that she and wife and actress Portia de Rossi are selling for $24 million."

A CNBC video shows the roof of the beach house, and there isn't a single solar panel in sight -- this, in California, where the sun shines nearly every day and could zero out her energy bill, and reduce the demand for electricity from a utility that can't always generate the power residents need.

Greta Thunberg

On her show last Nov. 1, Ellen interviewed Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old environmental activist, and promised viewers she and Greta would discuss what viewers and audience members could do to ease the climate crisis.

After the break, Ellen announced her show was dedicating $100,000 to a web page on EllenTube: Join Greta Thunberg & The Climate Crisis Movement.

But that was as far as she went. 

When Greta said she had stopped flying, Ellen didn't pledge to sell her private jet, nor did the world's funniest women tell us she would convert all her homes to solar power and buy electric cars.

In fact, Ellen made no reference to her profligate lifestyle or any steps she would take to ease her tremendous impact on the environment.

Read: How Tesla is helping me

 cut the cord to the utility company