How Green Is His Valley? At Vanity Fair's Enviro-Bash, Brokaw Brags of Bison

On Monday, April 28, in the subterranean auditorium of the New York Public Library, Vanity Fair hosted a cocktail hour and convocation of experts grandly titled “Redesigning the World: A Green Way to the Future.” And environmentally concerned New Yorkers Mary Richardson Kennedy (wife of Robert Kennedy Jr.), NBC Universal’s Ben Silverman, and public-relations consultant Ken Sunshine (whose clients include green freaks Leonardo DiCaprio and Laurie David) were all there to partake in the fun.

Former NBC Nightly News anchorman Tom Brokaw, who served as moderator of a panel that included Google CEO Eric Schmidt , told the Transom that he’s already noticed global warming causing droughts near his ranch in Montana. “We raise bison, which is an energy-efficient crop because they graze off of the ground efficiently and are lower in fat than turkey or chicken,” Mr. Brokaw said.

We blanched at the idea that the mild-mannered Midwesterner might personally slaughter these poor beasts. “No, I don’t kill them,” he said. “We have someone who slaughters them and then we sell them.”

Actress Edie Falco ducked in from the rainy weather sporting a sleek, boyish haircut and a casual trench coat with flats. “Graydon Carter invited me,” she said, looking up from her BlackBerry. “I’ve seen enough information on the Discovery Channel to know that larger things are happening than I can see here in New York.”