Nicole Richie, along with Amy Smart, were on hand yesterday afternoon to launch The Environmental Media Association Organic Gardens program. The launch was held at The Helen Bernstein High School and celebrated the partnership with Environmental Media Association (EMA) and LA Unified School District to bring organic gardens to Los Angeles’ public schools.

Celebrities will adopt gardens at various schools and work with the EMA and the LA school board to make sure the garden is successful - both in terms of what it grows and how it’s used as an educational tool for students. Several LA-based celebs have signed on to be ambassadors for this project, including Rosario Dawson and Lance Bass.

“We celebrate the dedication faculty members and students of LAUSD have to the environment,” EMA president Debbie Levin said. “It is vital that we continue to foster an ongoing message of education and social and environmental responsibility.”

I think this is a great program and perfect for Nicole to be involved in!

Images: Bauer Griffin

Joel Madden was one of several celebrity guests at the “Vice for Nice” HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere) Poker Invitational held on May 7th at Fred Segal, Santa Monica. Joel also acted as cohost for the event with Reid Scott, which raised thousands of dollars for HOPE.

HOPE is a non-profit dedicated to involving artists and their work to campaigns, programs and events supporting education and world peace. The event also features artwork from various HOPE artists, including Katrina Bea, Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell, Shepard Fairey, Lola Del Fresno, Andrew Jones, Ellwood T. Risk, The Ultravelvet Collection and Kelly Towles.

To learn more about HOPE, visit their official website.

Image: Newscom

According to E! Online, Nicole Richie is one of several celebrities who are partnering with the Environmental Media Association and the L.A. Unified School District to make Los Angeles’ schools a greener place. They hope to bring organic gardens and greenery to urban schools

Nicole, along with other celebrities like Amy Smart, Rosario Dawson and Lance Bass, are working with the program to help raise awareness and improve environmental education efforts in the schools.

“We celebrate the dedication faculty members and students of LAUSD have to the environment,” EMA president Debbie Levin said. “It is vital that we continue to foster an ongoing message of education and social and environmental responsibility.”

I think this is a great program and perfect for Nicole to be involved in! She’s passionate about the environment, going organic and children in Los Angeles. The program is expected to launch this summer. I hope this means we get photos of Nicole getting down and dirty, building an organic garden.

Image: Splash News Online

Nicole Richie posted an important video on her website yesterday and encouraged all her friends and fans to watch it. The video talks about the Congo rape crisis and tells you about different ways you can help.

Nicole was shocked and appaled to learn about the atrocious conditions women are expected to endure there. She even says it’s “the worst stuff that I’ve ever heard in my life.”

She talks quite a bit about Raise Hope for the Congo, the charity dedicated to improving the lives of women living in the Congo. It’s currently a favorite charity of Nicole and Joel.

Nicole outlines four different ways you can help:

1) Join the movement at Raise Hope for the Congo

2. Text “CONGOPLEDGE” (one word, no spaces) to ACTION (228466) or endorse the Conflict Minerals Pledge.

3. Send emails to the industry leaders and ask them to be a leader on this issue by signing the pledge. Visit to send your emails now.

4. Call the White House switchboard at 202.456.1414 or write to President Obama and ask him to appoint a special envoy for the Great Lakes region.

Watch the video here.

Image: Splash News Online

Joel Madden has made a public plea to fellow celebrity and activist, Emile Hirsch to come to the rescue. On April 25th,

Joel wants Emile to come to the rescue because he believes in Emile. He thinks Emile is a great role model and has campaigned tirelessly to improve conditions in Africa and has donated countless hours to charity.

The video is actually a promo piece for the charity Invisible Children and April 25th is their official day of action. Invisible Children is a charity that works to raise awareness about child soldiers all over the world. On April 25th, they will make plans to rescue Joseph Kony’s child soldiers and they need your (and Emile Hirsch’s!) help. For more information, visit InvisibleChildren.com.

Nicole Richie has donated some of her daughter Harlow’s old baby things to HandMeDowns.com for a charity auction. The proceeds of the sales will go to The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation.

There are only 9 days left in Nicole’s auction. Most of the items are starting at $1.00, which is a pretty great deal!

HandMeDowns is a Craigslist-type site that allows people to pass on their second-hand clothing and other products to other moms with small children. I think this is a great idea, as babies grow so fast! Their clothes are often too small before they get worn out.

“When I heard about this auction, I thought about how fortunate I am to be able to give Harlow so many things, from basic essentials to clothes,” Nicole wrote on the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation MySpace. “I have seen first-hand how many children lack the most basic items. I was so happy to clean out her closet and donate some of her hand-me-downs to this auction.

She’s giving away everything from old clothes to a signed stroller! She also encourages us to donate some of our old items to the charity auction as well, as every little bit helps.

Image: Splash News Online

Joel Madden and his brother Benji were recently on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show. They chatted about World Water Week, being UNICEF ambassadors, Good Charlotte’s upcoming album and Joel and Nicole’s growing family.

Joel admitted that he and Nicole were very srprised - but excited! - to find out that they were expecting again.

“We let love plan our babies,” he laughed. “We said even before this one we didn’t know how many kids we were going to have…then we got pregnant!”

Joel also admitted tat the constant tabloid speculation about Nicole being pregnant again as been hard on his family. They keep calling him and being like “Nicole?!!”

“Just before we found out, some magazine was writing that Nicole was expecting so my mom called and she’s like, ‘Is Nicole…?’” Joel says. “Every time, I’m like, ‘Mom, come on, seriously. I would tell you.’ But we didn’t know! And then I swear, literally two weeks later it comes true, we found out she really was.”

They also pulled the Tap Project, a non-profit dedicated to getting clean and safe ware to underprivileged children in third world countries.

Listen to the interview here.

Image: Bauer Griffin

Nicole Richie and Joel Madden hosted a fundraiser last night on behalf of their charity, the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation. The event was held at MyHouse in Los Angeles and drew guests such as Lauren Conrad, Barry Watson and wife Tracy Hutson, Matt Dallas, Rachel Zoe and more.

Image: Bauer Griffin

The fundraiser was to benefit the Tap Project, which strives to give all the children in Africa access to clean and safe drinking water. It was a fitting benefactor, as this week (March 22-28) is World Water Week.

Image: Bauer Griffin

Nicole looked gorgeous in a red silk dress with a unique halter detail. Joel cleaned up pretty nicely himself, donning an all black ensemble.

To find out how you can get involved in the Tap Project, visit their official website.

Joel Madden keeps plugging away at raising awareness for the non-profit Raise Hope for the Congo. The Congo is one of the most dangerous places in the world to live and Raise Hope for the Congo works to bring these women comfort and safety as well as the food and supplies necessary to care for themselves and their families.

In this latest promotional video, Joel is one of several celebrities to talk about the organization and all the efforts it is putting forth. Also featured in the video are Ken Baumann, Maria Bello, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Melissa FItzgerald, Emile Hirsch ad Jimmy Jean-Louis. They want you to take the Congo Challenge by raising awareness, raising your voice, raising the profile of the war and challenging others to join the movement.

To learn more about how you can take the Congo Challenge, go to RaiseHopefortheCongo.org.

Raise Hope for the Congo has put together the video below to help promote their organization.

Raise Hope for the Congo is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children in the Congo by supplying them with food and water and by creating a safer environment for them to live in. Joel has been involved with the group for the past couple years, even visiting the Congo with UNICEF to learn more about the work Raise Hope for the Congo is doing.

In the video, Joel talks about the Congo and what his fans can do to help during a Good Charlotte concert. He explains what our generation is doing to aid this problem, and what we can do to stop it.

I’m not 100% sure if the live feed in the video is a concert or a lecture Joel is giving. While I think it’s awesome Joel is so involved and passionate about this project, I’m a bit torn about how I feel about him using a concert as a platform to speak about his issues. We have so many other ways Joel can connect with his fans about this. But then, where else will you have the rapt of 10,000?