Will Charity Balls Ever Go Green?

It’s almost time for the most lavish of all charity events, the Crystal Charity Ball. This year’s theme is “Let it Snow,” which I imagine will include dancing children dressed as diamond-encrusted snowflakes and semi-nude ice princes and princesses greeting guests from the inside of an igloo hotel. There will probably be a very tasteful 18-foot snowman.
Much of the glitz and glamor is the result of in-kind donations, and kudos to the CCB women for that. It will be gorgeous. But part of the population is wondering when such over-the-top galas will start being a little more environmentally friendly, so we can all “let it snow” instead of swimming along with the polar bears in a pool of melted glaciers.  So say the folks at the New York Times,
in an article where Barneys’ Simon Doonan tells us to “think sustainable swag.” The article also features this terrifying tidbit:

there are those like the Costume Institute’s Chanel party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art two years ago, decorated with 7,000 gardenias and 25,000 pounds of boxwood, all of which “went into the Dumpster,” said David Monn, the event’s designer.

Tragic. I’d like to know what’s happening with all the goodies from CCB’s event. I’m sure a lovely charity or group of plebeian newspaper editors would be happy to take your leftover decorations. C’mon, ladies — details, please.