Environmental activists worldwide risk their lives on a daily basis to save our Mother Earth. Like that celebrities might not risk much by becoming activists, except for maybe being branded as greenwashers – but their role fighting climate change is far from meaningless. There are five well-known faces and their money serves as standard-bearers for the silent heroes’ fight.
Leonardo DiCaprio
DiCaprio’s speech at the 2016 Oscar ceremony was a decisive moment in defining him as an indisputable climate change fighter – but it did not mark the beginning of his engagement. The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, aimed at preserving the health and wellbeing of all of Earth’s habitats, had already been set up in 1998. “Before the Flood” is his one of the mentionable movement on climate change. In the film, the actor meets world leaders including US President Barack Obama and Pope Francis to raise awareness.
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan is famously a lover of gardens, having attended programming through The Cultural Landscape Foundation in and around his home in Malibu. Brosnan’s love of plants extends beyond flora to fauna, however, as he’s been a vocal whistleblower with respect to Iceland’s illegal whaling industry– advocacy that got him inducted into the Environmental Hall of Fame in Chicago. Brosnan has also supposedly contributed over $1 million to various environmental organizations over the years (including the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he has served on the board and Oceana’s Ocean Council).
Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle has been all over the small and big screens – from Fame to the Oceans franchise to Captain America and House of Lies. For the last six, though, he’s also been a global ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program. Cheadle champions the climate movement because “I hope to use my ‘celebrity to motivate people and contribute to moving our global society back from the brink. I am surprised environment is not at the top of the agenda. What is more important than food and clean air? We need a big push.”
Mark Ruffalo
Off-screen, the Hulk uses his strength to support development of clean energies and fight polluting extractive methods such as fracking – he is part of the group Artists Against Fracking. He runs the nonprofit organization Water Defense, aimed at using technology and public engagement to keep water clean. Ruffalo has also supported other environmental campaigns, like The Solutions Project to enhance the transition toward 100 percent clean and renewable energy.
Robert Redford
This Hollywood legend was among the most acclaimed celebrities in Paris for the COP21 climate conference in 2015. The octogenarian actor has been fighting to boost clean energies and protect natural resources since the early 1970s. In an interview with United Nations representatives, Redford stated: “I think climate change has moved up the register of issues to be considered. […] I thought any voice that could be lent to the effort should be used, and so I’m here for that.”
