13 celebrities who are fighting to save the environment

June 05, 2017

Leonardo DiCaprio

If you use your acceptance speech at the Oscars to shine a light on pollution, you’re a true environmentalist. While accepting the trophy for Best Actor at the 2016 ceremony, Leo told millions watching, “Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”

The Revenant star’s activism dates back to 1998 when he established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to protect “Earth’s last wild places and fostering a harmonious relationship between humanity and the natural world.” He is also on the boards of many other organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund, The Natural Resources Defense Council, The International Fund for Animal Welfare and Global Green USA.

Leo has also produced two films on global warming – the 2007 docu-drama 11th Hour and 2017’s documentary Before the Flood.

Photo: Getty Images

<strong>Jane Fonda</strong>
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Jane has always been outspoken about saving the environment. In 2015, she expressed her disapproval of Arctic drilling and in 2017 she travelled to Canada to protest the oilsands in Alberta. Speaking to the Toronto Star, the Hollywood legend said, “The climate change problem is the issue of our civilization. It will affect everything about our lives if we don’t do something about it.”
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<strong>Matt Damon</strong>
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The Oscar-winning actor was ‘bourne’ to save the world. Matt is helping curb the global water crisis thanks to the work of Water.org, an organization he co-founded with Gary White over 25 years ago. The goal of the organization is to help people around the world get access to clean and safe water.
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<strong>Natalie Portman</strong>
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Like fellow Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio, the Jackie star supports Global Green USA, an organization fighting global climate change through green affordable housing initiatives. And as James Corden revealed on <em>The Late Late Show</em> in Dec. 2016, Natalie’s passion for the earth started in her childhood. Much to her embarrassment, James showed a clip of the actress belting out an eco-friendly song as a member of the environmental pop group World Patrol Kids!
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<strong>Mark Ruffalo</strong>
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Mark is the ultimate nice guy, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to ruffle some feathers to elicit change. He has protested against hydraulic fracturing in upstate New York and lent his star power to the documentary <em>In This Climate</em>.
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<strong>Emma Watson</strong>
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The U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador has a passion for fashion and the environment. She has been actively promoting sustainable clothing over the past few years by collaborating with fair-trade fashion label People Tree and most recently by wearing sustainable fashion during the <em>Beauty and the Beast</em> press tour.
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<strong>Brad Pitt</strong>
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Aside from the actor’s humanitarian efforts, the <em>War Machine</em> star is a long-time environmentalist. He set up the Make It Right Foundation to help build environmentally-friendly residences in New Orleans for people who were affected by Hurricane Katrina.
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<strong>Gisele Bündchen</strong>
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The world’s most famous supermodel is doing her part to leave a green footprint on the earth. She created an eco-friendly flip-flop line called Ipanema to help raise money for conserving the Amazon rain forest, plus she initiated the Clean Water Project to restore vegetation and micro basins in her native country Brazil. To top it all off, she is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program.
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<strong>Robert Redford</strong>
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The American icon has been an environmental advocate for decades. He founded Sundance Preserve, a non-profit organization working to protect the North Fork Canyon in Utah and produced a TV program called <em>The Green</em> to shine a light on solar energy and wilderness preservation.
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<strong>Meryl Streep</strong>
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The Academy-award winning actress has always tried to protect the earth. In 1998, she founded Mothers and Others, an environmental group that provided information about the presence of chemicals and pesticides in green produce. While the organization folded in 2001, she still continues to speak up about toxins in water and food substances. The mother-of-two is also a part of the Children Health Environment Coalition.
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<strong>Pierce Brosnan</strong>
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The <em>James Bond</em> star serves on the boards of the Natural Resources Defense Council, California Protection Network and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The actor and his wife Keely Brosnan have narrowed their attention to saving the world’s whale population.
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<strong>Jessica Alba</strong>
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The actress turned business mogul wanted to give families access to eco-friendly, non-toxic household products, so in 2012, she launched The Honest Company. To ensure her business isn’t harming the environment, The Honest Company is committed to "reducing the presence of toxic chemicals in our work environment, minimizing waste, and maximizing (re)use materials."
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<strong>Cate Blanchett</strong>
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Cate and her husband Andrew Upton advocated for the installation of solar panels at The Wharf Theatre Company in Sydney as part of the Greening the Wharf project in 2010. The panels now provide 70 per cent of the of the theatre's electricity. The Australian actress is also the face of the "Who on Earth Cares" campaign, which aims to reduce greenhouse pollution.
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