U2 guitarist The Edge hoped to build himself a nice, homey little beach getaway consisting of five mansions overlooking the Malibu coastline—you know, just a place to hang his five ridiculous hats. But according to the L.A. Times, that plan has now been rejected by the California Coastal Commission for the incredible damage it would cause to the city, ending nearly five years of his efforts to hire lobbyists to convince the board that what he was doing was, in reality, meant to help the environment by leading through example. His ironically named “Leaves In The Wind” project (so named for its “undulating” green rooftops) would have provided environmentally progressive housing for rich folk, what with its incorporation of recycled materials, rainwater systems, solar panels, and other eco-friendly innovations.
Unfortunately for The Edge and his design team, the CCC says those “eco-friendly” houses would actually severely harm the land they sit on by destroying the land formation and its native plants, wrecking the skyline, pushing animals like the mountain lion out of their natural habitat, and tainting water quality, so whoops. In fact, the agency’s director called it “one of the three worst projects that I've seen in terms of environmental devastation.” Obviously he just got back from Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark! Hey-o! We totally burned you, The Edge! It has not been a good week for you.