WITH EARTH DAY (April 22) fast approaching, we’re reminded of the
elegant words of Henry David Thoreau:
“Nature will bear the closest inspection.
She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf,
and take an insect view of its plain.”
In this, our first Green Issue, we celebrate our fellow organically inclined
Hamptonites, and offer guidance and support to the legions of enthusiastic
locals who are in the process of converting to a more sustainable lifestyle.
Who better to grace the cover of such an eco-savvy edition than Long
Island neighbor and eco-aficionado Isabella Rossellini?
No doubt the daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto
Rossellini has led a glamorous life as a film star and model. But when we
actually had the privilege of photographing her at her no-frills estate (a
lovely green expanse dotted with three raw-raftered, converted red barns in
Bellport, Long Island, which she shares with her 14-year-old son, Roberto),
we felt we’d gotten a glimpse of the real Rossellini: a warm, graceful, and
completely genuine wonder.
A champion of all living things, Rossellini not only works with the Nature
Conservancy to save the shores and shellfish of Long Island, she’s also found
a way to use her theatrical talents for the cause. Recently, the Sundance
Channel asked her to create a series of environmentally focused (and
“flashy,” she says) films geared toward the younger generation of iPhone
downloaders. Rossellini came up with Green Porno, eight quirky minute-long
shorts that depict the mating habits of various insects and other small creatures,
which she wrote, stars in, and directed.
Fortunately for us, writer Lucinda Rosenfeld, a contributor to The New
York Times magazine and The New Yorker, and author of the novels What She
Saw… and Why She Went Home, agreed to take a break from writing her third
book, I’m So Happy for You, to interview the actress for our feature story
“Force of Nature.” Says Rosenfeld, “Talking to Isabella made me realize that
a creative life and an environmentally aware life aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Also in this issue: Dress My Nest star and brand-new Hamptons columnist
Thom Filicia illuminates the subject of making a home green and stylish in
“Interior Dialogue: Emerald Isle”; Christie Brinkley reveals her earthy side
in “Sweet Charity: How Does Your Garden Grow?”; Quantum Wellness
author Kathy Freston drives home the need for farm-fed foods in “Cuisine:
Turning Over a New Leaf”’; and, in “Wedded Bliss,” we show that, as
swells like the Bouviers, Fords, and Hearsts have always known (and we
have the pictures to prove it), there’s no more perfect setting than the East
End to say “I do.”
After all, I got married here, too!
Hopefully, these pages will inspire us all to live a cleaner, greener existence
in this most natural, most beautiful of places to call home, the Hamptons.
Happy Mother’s Day!
CRISTINA GREEVEN CUOMO
Editor in Chief |
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