GLOBAL GREEN USA AND BRAD PITT ANNOUNCE DESIGN COMPETITION IN NEW ORLEANS; PITT TO SPONSOR AND LEAD DESIGN JURY

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN COMPETITION TO ACT AS CATALYST FOR GREEN, HEALTHY DESIGN AND REBUILDING OF NEW ORLEANS

NEW ORLEANS, LA, APRIL 20, 2006 – Global Green USA and Brad Pitt announced today that they are teaming up to sponsor a design competition to provide an opportunity for talented architects, urban planners, designers, ecologists and students to put forward a creative yet practical vision for New Orleans neighborhoods. Participants will be asked to put forth designs using green principles for the reconstruction of several New Orleans neighborhoods including a multi-use community center, single family home
and multi-family housing.

The Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans – Advancing the Sustainable Rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast - combines Global Green USA’s commitment to green affordable housing, sustainable cities, and climate solutions that work for communities, with Brad Pitt’s passion for intelligent architecture. The idea for the competition developed from a conversation between Brad Pitt and Global Green President, Matt Petersen, at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City in September 2005. The competition is a central component of Global Green’s sustainable rebuilding initiative for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, which began 10 days after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. This contest is an opportunity to give back to New Orleans, the birthplace of great culture, music, food, and architecture.

“It is our hope that this competition will generate and uncover new and innovative ideas which will advance the practicalities of responsible architecture, as well as spark a long overdue rebuilding effort for the people of New Orleans,” said Brad Pitt. “Honoring the traditions of this unique city and the voice of its residents, our goal is to create designs and ideally built projects for neighborhoods which are stable, beautiful, sustainable and affordable. This competition asks the question can this catastrophe be turned into opportunity? Can we create for these neighborhoods and its families something even better than they had before? We encourage anyone with an idea to get involved.”

Starting today, interested parties can pre-register for the competition and learn more about Global Green’s “Healthy Homes, Smart Neighborhoods” initiative at www.globalgreen.org <http://www.globalgreen.org/> .

Final details on the competition – including jurors, program, and the brief - will be made available online in mid-May. There will be an open competition, followed by the selection of six finalists to work with local neighborhoods on more detailed proposals.

“It is our goal that green design, clean energy and healthy building be central to the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,” said Global Green USA President, Matt Petersen. “We're particularly excited Brad Pitt is taking a leadership role on this project - through his generous sponsorship and involvement as chairman of the jury -- and to combine forces in advancing green building and helping families and neighborhoods in need."

Finalist presentations and jury review will occur prior to August 29, 2006, the one-year anniversary of Katrina’s landfall. Finalist designs will be exhibited in New Orleans, in partnership with the Tulane City Center and in Washington, DC with the goal of each finalist design being created and constructed in partnership with the neighborhoods.

“We are excited to participate in this unique design competition,” said Pam Dashiell, President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association in the lower 9th Ward. “The competition will help bring increased attention to the urgent needs of our neighborhoods and will result in the building of desperately needed homes that are healthier and more energy-efficient for our community.”

Global Green USA opened an office in February in New Orleans in order to offer expertise, support and resources to the leaders and citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

“Global Green responded immediately to our communities’ need, offering hope and help and backing that up with actual resources,” said John Williams, New Orleans’ architect and co-chair of Global Green USA’s local working group. “Along with other local leaders and organizations, they’ve helped put sustainable building on the map in New Orleans, now we have the opportunity to realize these principles.”

"This is a bold initiative Global Green is undertaking. New and innovative solutions to environmental challenges must also benefit our citizen's health and welfare,” said Julian Bond, Chairman of NAACP and member of Global Green’s honorary task force.

Six local neighborhoods- those needing the most assistance and having active neighborhood groups- will be invited to participate in the finalist round of competition. Using culturally, environmentally and climactically appropriate designs, materials and strategies, the final designs will follow these principles:

• Meet the needs of the community as identified by neighborhood groups
• Draw upon natural systems on site and surrounding blocks
• Reduce financial and health burdens for residents and the community
• Maximize use of energy on-site and explore ways to be carbon or climate neutral
• Inspire local enterprise that creates clean jobs and healthier neighborhoods

“Slowing global warming doesn’t have to be an intangible notion,” Petersen concluded, “we can also reduce energy bills for low-income families, help communities rebuild with clean jobs, and reduce the threats to public health with green building.”

Global Green USA - the American affiliate of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International – was founded by Diane Meyer Simon in 1993. Its newly opened field office and green building resource center will serve as a focal point of green building expertise for New Orleans residents and is the face of its “Healthy Homes, Smart Neighborhoods” initiative whose Honorary National Task Force includes: Julian bond, Gen. Wesley Clark, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Lee Hamilton, Pat Mitchell and David Orr. Global Green USA has been a national leader in green building for affordable housing, schools and communities for more than a decade and has influenced more than $20 billion dollars in green construction.