Al Gore might have an Oscar, Emmy and Nobel Prize on his resume, but the former vice president can add another achievement to the list: kicking off the Hollywood green movement. What started with An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary about the effects of global warming, quickly led to eco-friendly award shows, film sets and more documentaries.
“He made a film that has moved the conversation,” says Gore supporter Ted Danson. “It perhaps will have the biggest impact on all of our lives, this generation. You will see whether or not you literally made a difference. You will see if you changed the planet in a way that your children will be able to enjoy it, as you have, or not. He moved that conversation ahead giant steps.”
In honor of Earth Day, Hollywood.com takes a look back at some of Tinsel Town’s recent environmental achievements.
You’ve Got Mail
What: GreenDimes
Who: Matt Damon
Unlisted: Oscar winner Matt Damon is known for his philanthropy work in Africa with Ocean’s castmates George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle, but the Massachusetts native has another cause he’s passionate about; the environment. Damon sits on the board of GreenDimes, a company committed to reducing the amount of junk mail Americans receive each year and saving trees in the process.
Raising Awareness: “For an estimated dime a day they can stop 70 percent of the junk mail that comes to your house,” he told Oprah Winfrey on her show last year. “It’s very simple, easy to do, great gift to give, I’ve actually signed up my entire family. It was a gift given to me this past holiday season and I was so impressed that I’m now on the board of the company.”
Photo: WENN
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Making a Change
What: Global Green USA
Who: Salma Hayek, Jake Gyllenhaal, Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlize Theron and more.
Star Support: The Global Green USA organization, spearheaded by President Mikhail Gorbachev, aims to “create a new approach to solving the world’s most pressing environmental challenges by reconnecting humanity to the environment.” Garnering the support of some of Hollywood’s hottest stars, the non-profit holds an annual pre-Oscar party, provides green award show transportation and even invited celebrities, politicians and scientists to a Green Day celebration at the Arctic Circle in 2005 to generate media coverage about global warming.
Taking Action: “As the world struggles to combat poverty and global warming, Global Green USA is proving we can find solutions that benefit our communities and reduce global warming pollution,” says Salma Hayek. “We can all do our part to tackle global warming in a way that also improves the lives of those on the edge, whether it is the Inuit people in the Arctic Circle or low-income families in San Francisco or Los Angeles.”
Photo: Apega/WENN
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Green is Universal
What: NBC’s Green Week
Greenzo to the Rescue: What had David Schwimmer wearing a cape and acting like a complete ass in front of Al Gore this fall? Green Week of course! The former Friend and VP both paid a visit to 30 Rock in November. While Gore portrayed himself, Schwimmer played Greenzo, the “first nonjudgmental business-friendly environmental advocate.” The hit comedy wasn’t the only show stepping up to do their part; daytime, primetime and even late night turned green for the cause. Days of our Lives featured college students planting trees, Scrubs‘ Janitor signed on as the Environmental Officer for Sacred Heart Hospital, and car collector Jay Leno arrived at the Tonight Show each day in a different eco-friendly vehicle, just to name a few.
Doing Your Part: “I do drive a hybrid,” says 30 Rock star Tina Fey of her own commitment to the environment. “I got the Lexus hybrid, but I hear it’s not the most hybridy and we drive it like once every six months and so we save energy that way. We recycle. I think that we can do more. There’s more to be done.”
Photo: NBC [PAGEBREAK]
Globe Trotting
What: Planet in Peril
Who: Anderson Cooper, Jeff Corwin and Dr. Sanjay Gupta
The Heart of the Story: From the Brazilian rainforest to the arctic tundra, correspondents Anderson Cooper, Jeff Corwin and Dr. Sanjay Gupta traveled far and wide to bring to light issues of climate change, vanishing habitats, disappearing species, and human population growth in their recent CNN documentary Planet in Peril. The two-part, four hour special showed viewers first hand the disturbing changes already taking place across the globe.
Political Environment: “I think it is important to get away from hype and politics and sort of looking through the lens of politics,” Cooper says. “It is important to just look at facts and what actually is happening and take it out of the realm of theoretical discussion and really see what is happening now. There is a lot happening now in all these places.”
Photo: CNN
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Green Screen
What: The 11th Hour
Who: Leonardo DiCaprio
Cause and Effect: While Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth aimed to educate the public about the effects of global warming, DiCaprio takes the cause a step further with his own documentary The 11th Hour. Showing the horrors of pollution, deforestation and over-mining and the cause of such atrocities the film proves a hard-hitting wake up call for even the most liberal viewers. Despite the near-terminal diagnosis, the film ends on the upswing with solutions of alternative energy and transportation sources.
Expert Opinions: “It really was a homemade movie in a lot of ways,” says DiCaprio. “Out of discussions that we had about the environment and media, and the want and the need to hear some of the great experts and visionaries in the environmental field of our time be able to speak in an open form uninterrupted about a subject matter that they’ve devoted their life to. That was really the basis of wanting to make this movie: wanting to hear some great thinkers really give us some insight as investigators on this issue.”
Photo: Apega/WENN [PAGEBREAK]
Erasing the ‘Almighty’ Foot Print
What: Evan Almighty
Who: Director Tom Shadyac
Balancing Act: Its not easy being green, especially on a mega-movie set, but director Tom Shadyac managed to go ultra-eco friendly on his hit comedy Evan Almighty. Shadyac and his team worked with The Conservation Fund to zero-out their CO2 emissions by planting 2,065 trees. In addition, they recycled set materials, used recycled paper for scripts and marketing products and rode bicycles around the set. The L.A. premiere proved just as green. The team recycled waste, arrived in hybrid and bio diesel vehicles, took pedicabs to the after party and even gave away GE light bulbs.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: “We recycled during filming,” Shadyac explains. “Every piece of material—lumber, windows, door and window treatments, flooring, hardware, etc.—that was salvageable was recycled, repurposed and donated somewhere, as opposed to just throwing it into a landfill. We melted down the steel (from the ark’s steel infrastructure), sold it and then donated the money to Habitat for Humanity.”
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Green with Emmy
What: Emmy Awards
Power Play: Star power aside, the Emmys needed a whole lot of energy to get the award show up and running this year. Fox and the Television Academy brought in solar panels, wind energy and hydropower to turn things up a notch this summer in an unprecedented move to reduce the show’s environmental impact. Other green goals included using all recycled materials, replacing onsite golf carts with bicycles and using alternative fuel vehicles for transportation.
Good Timing: “We all realize that we need to embrace this,” Emmy winner Jeremy Piven explains. “It’s become so clear, there are people that have so many other things to do other than bring this problem to our attention so now is the time. I drive a hybrid and you do what you can.”
Photo: Daily Celeb
