Note: For more from Alexandra, visit the "Ask Alexandra" tab on the Chevrolet Volt Facebook page.

Global Green’s Pre-Oscar party was a hip showbiz extravaganza featuring not only Hollywood’s most conscientious celebs, but several beautiful Volts. As Ian and I pulled up in our own Volt to the Avalon Club at Hollywood & Vine (where, next door, crews were busily readying the Kodak Theater for this weekend’s Academy Awards), the first thing we saw was a beautiful Red Volt on a pedestal outside the front door. Its viridian joule counterpart awaited at the beginning of the event’s “green carpet” (an eco-nod to the usual “red carpet”), where dozens of papparrazzi awaited to take photos of the likes of James Cameron, beautiful Daphne Zuniga and Esai Morales.

Farther down, video interviews from  media outlets as diverse as Us Weekly, Ecorazzi and a Russian television station asking questions just as wide ranging: “What is the #1 way people can help the environment?” and “Who is your Oscar pick for best actress?”  I extolled the virtues of my Volt, and discussed being a child-free vegan. Whilst maneuvering through interviews, I ran into the incredible actor Dennis Haysbert (yep, I have a crush). The last time I saw Dennis was outside a Santa Monica movie theater playing Who Killed the Electric Car?, where I was passing out Plug In America pamphlets. Dennis had just seen the movie and said he was buying a Tesla. At the party, he told me that he had loved the car, but at over 6’4” and being a big guy, his left leg kept rubbing against the door. After 42 days, he sold his Tesla back to the company. I told him about the Volt and he seemed very interested, so I hope he will take a test drive. He has 72 solar panels on his home, so he needs a plug-in car to make use of that beautiful sunpower he is generating!

Inside the club, which used to be the famed Palace, I had a terrific conversation with Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger.com, who has a fascinating new project called Life Edited about simplifying and getting by with fewer possessions. I urged him to include smaller families among his editing tenets, so we’ll see if he adds that to his TED talk next week! Ian and I chatted with screenwriter Nancy Pimental, currently a writer on the Showtime series Shameless, who is also in Ian’s book club (contrary to popular belief, we do read out here in LaLaland). We saw animal rights author Karen Dawn, and green marketing consultant David Mieczko, who represents solar and algae companies. The guests inside the club were as diverse as the paparazzi outside!

Esai proudly showed us photos of his new daughter, and Daphne told us of her latest environmental justice project.  At about midnight, Ian and I slipped outside past several Volts in the parking lot, and drove our own Volt happily home, emissions free.

Alexandra Paul is a longtime electric vehicle advocate, actress and former EV1 driver. She is working with Chevrolet to educate consumers about EVs and the Volt. Full disclosure, Chevrolet is paying her for her time, but her opinions will always be hers.

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