New Mardi Gras Group Trying Clean Up Carnival

While most people are too drunk to really notice, Mardi Gras is not exactly the most eco-friendly holiday. The piles of trash are sometimes even considered a good thing. But one group of buzz-kills wants to clean up Carnival and do something about the millions of pounds of petroleum-based, sweatshop-made, rarely-recycled beads we throw every year. Such wet blankets.

The group is called VerdiGras (not actually a reference to Fat Giuseppe Verdi), led by a retired doctor and her lawyer husband. While they might have some trouble getting the frat boys who who come here to turn the Carnival into their own personal Girls Gone Wild video to change anything, they were able to work with the city to get recycling going after the Uptown parades on February 11. Which is pretty cool.

At any rate, if, you know, recycling and food and live music are your things, the inaugural VerdiGras masquerade ball is January 21, with music by Susan Cowsill and food by Robert Bruce. Tickets are $30.

· Mardi Gras Goes Green if Resident Has Her Way [TP]
· VerdiGras [Official Site]

[Photo: TYWKIWDBI]