Organizers assure you: “You can reduce your impact on our environment by choosing to attend The Green Ball.”

Um … what?

Tickets are FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

And only FIVE PERCENT “of each ticket sold will be donated to the Green Inaugural Ball partner of your choice,” which includes organizations like the Organic School Project and Environment America.

So what’s so frickin’ green about the ball (besides the ticket price)?

• Food is organic, but not local — “In January, local produce is not an option.”  They clearly didn’t want to design a menu around root vegetables.
• They’ll keep decor to “a minimum because the Mellon Auditorium is such a beautiful venue.” Have they done an estimate of the heating and electricity costs of this gorgeous venue?
• My personal favorite: “The bars will serve local and organic beverages.  With the understanding that not every beverage product is produced in the DC Metro area, our focus is on utilizing top-shelf domestic beverages in every case that a quality product is not produced locally.” Um … so expensive liquor is “green” now?  Excuse my acronym, but wtf?

I don’t mind a bit of green-washing — I’ve accepted that it’s inevitable — but I don’t like that the organizers are apparently aiming to make a profit off of this thing and giving so little to the organizations that are actually doing something about the environment.  Plus, I’m just pissed that the price of admission is blocking me out. I wanna see Wyclef Jean!