A few weeks ago Sean Penn organized something called the Dirty Hands Caravan, in which several biodiesel buses traveled from the Coachella Festival in Indio, CA to New Orleans, filled with the sort of people you’d find at Coachella. Plus Sean Penn. Along the way they did, like, good stuff:

The caravan… is the coming together of individuals encouraged to “get involved” in any way they feel compelled, whether its by cleaning up parks or neighborhoods, caring for the sick or needy, or speaking out on behalf of issues such as immigration reform…

As the bio-diesel buses make their way across U.S. cities, members of the caravan will be offered opportunities to volunteer on behalf of established local organizations. However, members of the caravan are free to choose whatever cause or do whatever good they feel inspired to do, whether it is officially organized or not. The goal of The Dirty Hands Caravan is to get people engaged and active in their world. Good works will be done, but the caravan’s overall mission is to “encourage individuals to take individual actions.”

Sounds a bit ill-defined, but hey, whatever makes them feel less guilty about having that much free time. One wit called it “a sort of feelgood A-Team,” which is about right. Or maybe it’s like the Merry Pranksters, except instead of dropping acid with Ken Kesey and having a blast, you get to go around pulling weeds and stuff with a sullen, humorless movie star. Whee. Well, at least it’ll give him something to talk about if he ever bumps into his ex-wife.

Anyway. Then this week he was at Cannes, and France has some strict new anti-smoking laws — which seems dumb because it’s, y’know, France* — but he went ahead and lit up in public anyway. Normally I’d say bravo, but it seems kind of hypocritical to talk about saving the environment and then make other people breathe the smoke from your rotten lungs. How about improving your immediate environment first? Act locally and all that.

Even if you don’t see the connection there, I think we can all agree upon the first principle that Sean Penn is a dick.

*I just meant that on the rare occasion I think about France, I picture everybody walking around smoking cigarettes. But if you want to take it as a slam against them because they’re a bunch of unwashed savages and now they don’t have all that cigarette smoke to mask the smell, that’ll work too.