Celebrity Environmental Activists
Projects of Hayden Panettiere, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore
Sep 23, 2008
Leonardo DiCaprio starred in several films including Titanic. He won an Academy Award three times, and has British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Golden Globe, National Board of Review of Motion Pictures awards.He is investing his time and funds into projects to help solve the climate crisis.
He founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation for social networking with other environmental organizations. He is producing Eco-Town for the Discovery Networks. DiCaprio is planning to build a environmentally friendly “green” hotel on his island off the coast of Belize. He has produced an environmental film, The 11th Hour.
Causes of Global Warming, Stephen Hawking in 11th Hour
The 11th Hour film proclaims the time is extremely limited for solving our global climate crisis. The film explores factors causing our environmental problems, and the severity of impact on ecosystems. Environmental information from such notables as Stephen Hawking are included along with comments from over 50 scientists and world leaders.
Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, Environmental Slide Show
The Al Gore Climate Project promotes social networking and trains volunteers to present the An Inconvenient Truth slide show. The theme is similar to Leonardo DiCaprio’s 11th hour film. Oilman T. Boone Pickens is also participating in promoting cleaner energy.
Hayden Panettiere, Projects To Save Ocean Marine Life
Hayden Panettiere is a young film actress and stars in the Heroes TV series. She is a major supporter of the Whaleman Foundation. The foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation engaging in projects to preserve and protect ocean marine life.
- The Stop Whaling Project reports that whaling nations may take control of the International Whaling Commission. The foundation claims since Commission’s moratorium to end commercial whaling over “25,000 whales have been slaughtered.”
- The Save the Dolphins project claims that each year more than “20,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed by Japanese fisherman."
- The Stop Deadly Sounds project states that high intensity underwater sounds are dangerous and deadly to marine life.
- The Save the Humpback Feeding Grounds project says that the feeding grounds of humpbacks are endangered by commercial fishing and pollution.
- The save Southeast Alaska’s Tongass Forest project says this forest is the world’s largest and last intact pristine temperate rain forest.
- The Save the Orcas project claims that over one quarter of the Orcas have already died due to pollution from coastal cities.
Press Conference, Washington D.C., Hayden Panettiere, Senator John Kerry
Hayden Panettiere's recent activities for the Whaleman Foundation include participating with the television Heroes cast in a new campaign, “Save the Whales Again.” The Humane Society awarded her the highest activism award for her Taiji Japan protest to stop Japan's killing of dolphins. She has also appeared on behalf of the Waleman Foundation at a press conference in Washington D.C. with Chris Shays (R), Nick Rahall (D), and Senator John Kerry (D).
Not everyone is pleased with celebrity environmental participation. Mr. David Frum, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, wrote an article titled "The Hypocrisy of Celebrity Environmentalists". It was published, 8/06/2007, in the Canada newspaper The National Post. His argument was that celebrities may have a clean energy car, but they “...then hop a private jet...burning enough fuel in one flight to power [their] car back and forth across the Pacific 57 times.”
Notable celebrities like Hayden Panettiere, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Al Gore are providing activism examples for others to help endangered species and stop greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global warming.
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