With all the Oscar buzz
going around, we thought we would get in on the act. Last night, we saw
a triumph for the environment, when Al Gore won an Academy Award for “An Inconvenient Truth,”
his movie about global warming (look, if you haven’t seen it you
should. The Polar Bears are dying people, and it’s sad.) Well, we saw
this report via Reuters about other “green” actors. And no, we don’t mean with envy…
Whether
it's forsaking a gas guzzling limo in favor of driving a hybrid car to
the Oscars, or fitting their homes with solar panels, many celebrities
embraced green causes long before they became fashionable.
Just as a famous face can sell a perfume, stars of stage and screen can
sell a cause and scores of them are doing more than merely putting
their money where their mouth is.
"Whether
it's fashion or cultural trends, the entertainment industry has the
ability to communicate to a global audience ideas that set forth
actions and create change," said Debbie Levin, president of the
Environmental Media Association which promotes green issues through the
entertainment industry.
"Early adapters, like Cameron Diaz, led
the way and now with everyone from Kirsten Dunst to Maroon 5 to Will
Ferrell driving hybrid cars, (it) sends the message that it's cool to
think and buy green," Levin said.
Following is a list of some of the leading green celebrity players:
ROBERT REDFORD: 30
years on board of Natural Resources Defense Council, founder of
Sundance Preserve, winner of 1993 Earth Day award, 1987 United Nations
Global 500 award. In April 2007, launches weekly three-hour slot called
"The Green," dedicated entirely to the environment, on his Sundance TV
channel.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO: started the Leonardo
DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to promote environmental issues, drives a
hybrid car, currently writing and producing a feature length
documentary on global warming called "11th Hour".
BRAD PITT: co-creator of design competition to build 20 affordable, reduced energy, environmentally friendly homes in New Orleans.
STING: founder in 1989 of Rainforest Foundation to protect rain forests and their indigenous peoples.
HARRISON FORD: vice
chairman of Conservation International, has a Central American ant
named after him, won the Global Environmental Citizen Award in 2002.
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND: offsets
CO2 emissions produced by their multi-city tours by funding projects
such as tree plantings and wind turbine construction.
AL GORE: former
U.S. vice president whose climate change documentary "An Inconvenient
Truth" was Oscar-nominated, also nominated for 2007 Nobel Peace prize.
PIERCE BROSNAN:
focuses on marine mammal and wetland protection, headlined Natural
Resources Defense Council campaign against effects of Navy sonar on
whales, awarded 1997 Green Cross International Environmental Leadership
Award.
CATE BLANCHETT: plans to equip Sydney
Theatre Company building with solar panels, rainwater collection
systems to make it completely eco-friendly. Sydney home is fully
powered by solar energy, donates to Forest Guardians.
EDWARD NORTON:
launched the BP Solar Neighbors Program in 2003 which matches each
celebrity purchase of a solar energy home system with a solar
installation in a low-income family home in Los Angeles.
DARYL HANNAH: arrested
in June 2006 for staging a 23-day tree sit-in during a bid to preserve
an urban community garden in Los Angeles, traveled across America in
2005 in a biofuel car, home is entirely off-grid.
RICHARD BRANSON:
Virgin Group chairman, a former global warming skeptic, who in Sept.
2006 pledged to spend all profits from his airline and rail businesses
(estimated $3 billion over 10 years) on investments in biofuel research
and projects to tackle emissions.
ALANIS MORISSETTE:
given 2003 Environmental Media Association Missions in Music Award;
campaigns against oil drilling in Alaska; has solar panels on home.
KT TUNSTALL: ran her US tour bus on biodiesel fuel, performed at eco-friendly "Golden Green" at the 2007 Golden Globe awards in Los Angeles.
JOSH HARTNETT, ORLANDO BLOOM, MAROON 5, KT TUNSTALL: promoting
2007 Global Cool initiative to cut carbon emissions by encouraging
people to turn off TVs, mobile-phone chargers and other energy-draining
gadgets.
JAMIE OLIVER: celebrity chef, plans to power his Cornwall, England, restaurant by wind turbines.
NEIL YOUNG: 2004 North American tour fueled entirely with biodiesel.
WILLIE NELSON: singer, co-partner in the Willie Nelson Biodiesel Company.
BARENAKED LADIES: run their tour buses and trucks on biodiesel fuel.
Drivers
of hybrid cars include: Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Carole King,
Kirsten Dunst, Billy Joel, Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell, Julia Roberts, Ted
Danson, Woody Harrelson, Alanis Morissette, David Duchovny, Patricia
Arquette, Jackson Browne, Larry David, Danny DeVito and Bill Maher.