Tiffani Thiessen's Green Dream
Be the change you want to see in the world.
That is a mantra Tiffani Thiessen has always believed in, both as a child learning about conservation from her father, and now as a Hollywood actress using her celebrity status for good. Her latest philanthropic endeavor is to pair with Glad on their One Bag campaign, which asks party hosts and hostesses to ditch the paper products in favor of more environmentally conscious pieces.
To prove how easy it is, Thiessen recently threw a One Bag adult night out party that sent a single bag of trash to landfill (in addition to composting and recycling) despite what the lavish atmosphere might imply. ETonline caught up with the mom to talk about leaving behind a better earth for her daughter, the ease of One Bag life and what White Collar fans can expect from season five!
ETonline: How did you come to partner with Glad on their One Bag campaign?
Tiffani Thiessen: I was lucky enough to be approached by them to do this, and I totally jumped at the chance. My dad was a landscape architect, very earthy in the yard, and he taught me at a young age about conservation. That's been instilled in me since I was young, so I've really tried to live my life that way. We are putting so much pressure on our Earth that we need to do everything we can. Every little bit helps. That's what is so great about Glad's One Bag party. It shows you can throw a beautiful party and still be very cautious about putting too much in our landfills. We only threw one bag of trash away, and the party was still beautiful.
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ETonline: Has becoming a parent changed the way you view conservation?
Thiessen: Oh, absolutely. I want to make sure there’s an Earth for all our children to live on, and that it's a healthy place with clean air and animals to learn about. We're sharing this space with everything living on this planet, and that's what is hard to see -- we're growing as a population but in doing so, we're pushing out the creatures who were here before. We need to be careful about what we take from the environment and what we put back into it.
ETonline: What do you say to people who think the One Bag approach is impossible?
Thiessen: Do it little by little. You don't have to spend a lot of money all at once. I've spent the last few years collecting serving pieces and cake plates that I know I'll use for the next 20 years -- if not more.
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ETonline: How green is the White Collar set?
Thiessen: Very! Everyone has a White Collar bottle they reuse every day from the water jugs we bring in. We recycle, of course, and try to be as green as possible.
ETonline: What did you think of Peter getting arrested in the season finanle?
Thiessen: It's funny, we've finished four seasons now and it seems like every single time we have a cliffhanger, it just takes things to another level. I kind of have some idea of what's going to happen next season, but I can't tell you [laughs]. Although I'm sure you can imagine, to a certain degree, how Elizabeth is going to feel about it.
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ETonline: It's been happening slowly but surely and last season I felt like Elizabeth finally became an unofficial member of the White Collar team.
Thiessen: Like any show, every season gives you more and more time to pull back the layers and learn more about the characters. Fans really love Elizabeth and Peter's marriage, which is one of the things I've loved about our show from the pilot. This is a working, lovely, respectful marriage that you don't see on TV that often. You usually see the drama of a marriage, so it's nice to see a husband and wife really having fun with each other. Then they introduced the fun relationship with Elizabeth and Mozzie, and then Elizabeth and Neal. She's kind of the grounding force with all those boys.
ETonline: Here's hoping she can keep contributing without getting kidnapped again!
Thiessen: [laughs] I know! But I loved that I got to make the "How many times can I be kidnapped?" joke last season!
For more on Glad's One Bag campaign, click here. White Collar season five premieres this fall on USA.