Fwd: Green Walking The Talk,,,interview with Woody Harrelson

[Guest guest]

>GREEN Walking the Talk>Woody Harrelson's Sustainable Life>Gregory Dicum, Special to SF Gate>>Wednesday, July 20, 2005>>>>"We vote with our dollars more than we do at the ballot," Woody Harrelson >told me when we spoke by phone last month from his home in Hawaii. "There >is no legitimate voting anymore in the United States -- it's not really a >democracy anymore." His voice was slow and syrupy from the mix of Maui air >and leftover drawl from his Texas boyhood. "It does breed cynicism, and >I've been very cynical," he continued, "but we gotta be hopeful, because >otherwise it ain't gonna shift.">>Harrelson is well known for speaking his mind -- in environmentalist >circles, probably as well known as he is for his acting. Among other >notable moments, in 1996 -- the same year he was nominated for an Oscar for >his starring role in "The People vs. Larry Flynt" -- Harrelson was arrested >in Kentucky for planting industrial hemp seeds, and again in San Francisco >for scaling the Golden Gate Bridge in a logging protest. But these days, >just as Harrelson has matured as an actor (he has three films slated for >release this year, with three more to follow in 2006), so too has he >matured as an activist.>>For the past few years, Harrelson has lived with his wife Laura Louie and >their two daughters in a sustainable community of about 200 people on Maui. >"It's a really beautiful place," says Harrelson in a tone of awe. >"Everybody cares about this Earth and they're all biodynamic farmers and >just really cool people. It's really a loving community and I'm blessed to >be a part of it.">>It sounds like nothing short of paradise, in fact. "Nobody in our >neighborhood has any power lines -- we're all solar," Harrelson continues. >"At the end of the night when the lights go out you just look out at the >valley and the only lights are stars.">>It has become part of Harrelson's approach to live his life lightly on the >Earth. "I try to walk the talk as much as possible," he told me. "I run my >car on biodiesel. All the paper I use is nonwood, postconsumer waste. I'm >vegan and eat raw as much as I can. And we mostly grow our own food -- >probably 90 percent. I played a farmer for so long it's ironic I finally >got around to it. Although I can't take credit for doing most of the work, >it does feel good puttin' my fingers in the dirt.">>Harrelson credits Ted Danson, his Cheers co-star, with first bringing >environmental issues to his attention. "But what really kinda kicked me >over into another gear," he says, "was in 1992 when I read in the L.A. >Times -- way back in the end of the paper, you'd think it'd be front-page >news -- that Congress was trying to pass a law to make six million acres >available to extractive industries -- timber and mining. And it was >wilderness, you know? They aren't making any more of those ancient trees -- >we're down to a very small percentage of what there was.">>So Harrelson started looking for alternatives. "That's how I started to >embrace hemp," he told me. (Activists say industrial hemp, which contains >negligible amounts of the THC, could be used for many of the things >trees are used for today, and then some.) "Unfortunately, the message gets >maligned in such a way that it becomes all about , which is a >separate issue. I think in a free country both should be legal. But I don't >think we're in a free country.">>Though he now laughs deeply and easily about it, Harrelson's hemp activism >was widely misunderstood. When he climbed the Golden Gate Bridge in 1996 >with the Rainforest Action Network (where he's on the board of directors) >to protest the logging of ancient redwoods, Harrelson says, "most people >didn't even know what the hell I was even up there about. They said, 'oh, >way to get up there and give a shout-out for !' It's kind of like >that proverb: The nail that's sticking the furthest out is the one that >gets the hammer blow. I do feel misrepresented in many ways.">>Though Harrelson is planning more symbolic actions of this sort, he now >says that "you only get so much mileage outta doing this kind of thing >before people just don't care. These actions are a bit gimmicky, you know? >Not that it's a bad thing -- it's what the environmental movement has to do >to break through the media.">>Instead, Harrelson has come out with a collection of projects to help >spread the word more directly. In 2001, he and his yoga- and raw >food-fueled eco-posse embarked on a biodiesel and pedal-powered tour of the >West Coast to promote sustainable living. In the process of biking 1,500 >miles, Harrelson addressed several thousand people in towns and college >campuses from Seattle to San Diego. "Go Further," the 2003 film that >chronicles the experience, seems a little like the kind of self-indulgent >road-trip video you'd expect from a bunch of hippies on a bus -- but with a >bigger budget. Still, "How to Go Further," this year's book about the >journey, is an engaging and practical introduction to the idea of >sustainable living in today's world.>>Meanwhile, Harrelson and Louie have launched Voice Yourself, a Web site >devoted to spreading the sustainable life. Since debuting in conjunction >with the 2001 tour, the site has been visited by more than half a million >people.>>But Woody Harrelson thinks he can do even more. Even though he believes the >medium of film provides powerful role s for the way people live their >lives ("When I was a kid I just wanted to be like Steve McQueen," he says), >Harrelson hasn't done a Hollywood movie with an environmental theme. "I've >read a bunch of environmental scripts, but I haven't read any good ones," >he says, chuckling at both the earnestness of environmentalists and the >vapidity of Hollywood -- worlds few other people straddle as thoroughly as >he. "I do think it's a good idea," he goes on. "It's not like I'm totally >unaware of that. And my mom, who has become a frickin' major >environmentalist in her own right, is always encouraging me to do an >environmental movie.">>While he keeps his eye out for a good script, Harrelson is counting on >others to keep spreading the environmental message as well. "The message is >being carried by a lot of wonderful people, particularly in the Bay Area," >he says. "It's about caring for other people, being humanitarian, caring >for Mother Nature and using all the alternatives.">>"We gotta do everything we can to get away from petrochemicals," he >continues adamantly. "I think that is the No. 1 issue now -- and I never >thought I'd say that over ancient trees. The No. 1 issue now is we've gotta >get off the dinosaur tit and get back to basics.">>But even Harrelson struggles with doing all he can. "On the mainland I'll >all too often end up being in a car that runs on regular fuel -- it's just >inevitable. But plane travel is probably my worst transgression." Though >Harrelson says he's aware of carbon offsets for air travel -- the idea that >airline passengers can give money to tree-planting programs to absorb the >carbon dioxide their trip adds to the atmosphere -- he hasn't taken >advantage of them yet. In this he's like everyone: Even if we know the >right thing to do, we don't always do it.>>Nonetheless, Harrelson's commitment is sincere: Call him on his residual >carbon emissions and he'll get the ball rolling to solve the problem. "I >should zero out my carbon," he told me when I brought it up. "If I don't >follow through on that, I'll let you know.">>It's this disarmingly genuine character that makes Harrelson's strong >environmental convictions so robust. He even acknowledges that, as a rich >man, a sustainable life is easier for him. "Well, they got a good point," >he says of people who bring this up, but adds, "I'm sure if it's important >to someone, they'll do it in their own way.">>Harrelson believes that people have an innate capacity to do the right >thing once they have a sense of the facts and of their options. This has >been his guiding principle as his daughters, now 8 and 12, grow. "I try not >to preach to these kids," he says, "because I want them to think for >themselves and I don't want 'em to get tainted by my own viewpoint. >However, they are extremely conscious -- they're way more aware than I was >when I was their age.">>"They're constantly in nature -- the school is in walking distance -- and >the people around them are always loving and supportive. They get in the >ocean every day; they have a horse they ride on; they pick their breakfast >from the trees on our land. It could not be more different from my >childhood growing up in a suburb of Houston, Texas.">>"I don't think they need much protectin'," Harrelson says when I ask him >what will happen when his daughters become more aware of consumer culture. >"They're just really aware and sensitive beings -- if anything, they're >teaching me. I don't feel like they go off into the consumer culture >mentality. Sometimes they'll wanna watch a certain movie or something like >that, but they're not materialistic yet. I'm sure society will somehow >bring it home to 'em eventually. I hope they'll stay strong, centered and >focused.">>Harrelson acknowledges that these are troubled times, but he stays hopeful. >"I believe it's darkest before the dawn," he says. "There is gonna be a >shift, but it's gonna require a brand of unity among those who care that we >haven't seen yet: unity among all the cultural creatives who look at this >madness in the world and want to do something about it." (Cultural >creatives are members of a silent but potentially influential body of >Americans identified by social scientists Paul Ray and Sherry Andersen.)>>"Cultural creatives are just not aware that there are so many others like >them," continues Harrelson. "But they're 26 percent of the >population. It does feel like one voice against the machine a lot of times, >but if we joined all our voices in unison -- into a choir of sorts -- we >would have incredible power.">>"On the surface it's a political problem because our government sucks, but >it's really an economic problem," Harrelson goes on in his measured island >pace. "The corporations are the puppeteers. Until we address the money we >give to the puppeteers, things will never change.">>"It requires coordination between all these great organizations, like >MoveOn.org and California Peace Action and Guerilla News Network and Truth >Out. Just get everybody together to get the word out: 'Here's who we gotta >boycott.' Chevron or Texaco -- they were both war profiteers recently, >which I find particularly heinous. I don't think it would be a hard thing. >You affect their margins a fraction of a percentage point, and they'll pay >attention. I think that's the thing they're most afraid of.">>>>-->Gregory Dicum, author of Window Seat: Reading the Landscape from the Air, >writes about the natural world from San Francisco. A forester by training, >Gregory has worked at the front lines of some of the world's most urgent >environmental crises. For more of his work, see http://www.di . /list>>_______________>FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! >http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/>_______________FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/

 

 

 

>GREEN Walking the Talk>Woody Harrelson's Sustainable Life>Gregory Dicum, Special to SF Gate>>Wednesday, July 20, 2005>>>>"We vote with our dollars more than we do at the ballot," Woody Harrelson >told me when we spoke by phone last month from his home in Hawaii. "There >is no legitimate voting anymore in the United States -- it's not really a >democracy anymore." His voice was slow and syrupy from the mix of Maui air >and leftover drawl from his Texas boyhood. "It does breed cynicism, and >I've been very cynical," he continued, "but we gotta be hopeful, because >otherwise it ain't gonna shift.">>Harrelson is well known for speaking his mind -- in environmentalist >circles, probably as well known as he is for his acting. Among other >notable moments, in 1996 -- the same year he was nominated for an Oscar for >his starring role in "The People vs. Larry Flynt" -- Harrelson was arrested >in Kentucky for planting industrial hemp seeds, and again in San Francisco >for scaling the Golden Gate Bridge in a logging protest. But these days, >just as Harrelson has matured as an actor (he has three films slated for >release this year, with three more to follow in 2006), so too has he >matured as an activist.>>For the past few years, Harrelson has lived with his wife Laura Louie and >their two daughters in a sustainable community of about 200 people on Maui. >"It's a really beautiful place," says Harrelson in a tone of awe. >"Everybody cares about this Earth and they're all biodynamic farmers and >just really cool people. It's really a loving community and I'm blessed to >be a part of it.">>It sounds like nothing short of paradise, in fact. "Nobody in our >neighborhood has any power lines -- we're all solar," Harrelson continues. >"At the end of the night when the lights go out you just look out at the >valley and the only lights are stars.">>It has become part of Harrelson's approach to live his life lightly on the >Earth. "I try to walk the talk as much as possible," he told me. "I run my >car on biodiesel. All the paper I use is nonwood, postconsumer waste. I'm >vegan and eat raw as much as I can. And we mostly grow our own food -- >probably 90 percent. I played a farmer for so long it's ironic I finally >got around to it. Although I can't take credit for doing most of the work, >it does feel good puttin' my fingers in the dirt.">>Harrelson credits Ted Danson, his Cheers co-star, with first bringing >environmental issues to his attention. "But what really kinda kicked me >over into another gear," he says, "was in 1992 when I read in the L.A. >Times -- way back in the end of the paper, you'd think it'd be front-page >news -- that Congress was trying to pass a law to make six million acres >available to extractive industries -- timber and mining. And it was >wilderness, you know? They aren't making any more of those ancient trees -- >we're down to a very small percentage of what there was.">>So Harrelson started looking for alternatives. "That's how I started to >embrace hemp," he told me. (Activists say industrial hemp, which contains >negligible amounts of the THC, could be used for many of the things >trees are used for today, and then some.) "Unfortunately, the message gets >maligned in such a way that it becomes all about , which is a >separate issue. I think in a free country both should be legal. But I don't >think we're in a free country.">>Though he now laughs deeply and easily about it, Harrelson's hemp activism >was widely misunderstood. When he climbed the Golden Gate Bridge in 1996 >with the Rainforest Action Network (where he's on the board of directors) >to protest the logging of ancient redwoods, Harrelson says, "most people >didn't even know what the hell I was even up there about. They said, 'oh, >way to get up there and give a shout-out for !' It's kind of like >that proverb: The nail that's sticking the furthest out is the one that >gets the hammer blow. I do feel misrepresented in many ways.">>Though Harrelson is planning more symbolic actions of this sort, he now >says that "you only get so much mileage outta doing this kind of thing >before people just don't care. These actions are a bit gimmicky, you know? >Not that it's a bad thing -- it's what the environmental movement has to do >to break through the media.">>Instead, Harrelson has come out with a collection of projects to help >spread the word more directly. In 2001, he and his yoga- and raw >food-fueled eco-posse embarked on a biodiesel and pedal-powered tour of the >West Coast to promote sustainable living. In the process of biking 1,500 >miles, Harrelson addressed several thousand people in towns and college >campuses from Seattle to San Diego. "Go Further," the 2003 film that >chronicles the experience, seems a little like the kind of self-indulgent >road-trip video you'd expect from a bunch of hippies on a bus -- but with a >bigger budget. Still, "How to Go Further," this year's book about the >journey, is an engaging and practical introduction to the idea of >sustainable living in today's world.>>Meanwhile, Harrelson and Louie have launched Voice Yourself, a Web site >devoted to spreading the sustainable life. Since debuting in conjunction >with the 2001 tour, the site has been visited by more than half a million >people.>>But Woody Harrelson thinks he can do even more. Even though he believes the >medium of film provides powerful role s for the way people live their >lives ("When I was a kid I just wanted to be like Steve McQueen," he says), >Harrelson hasn't done a Hollywood movie with an environmental theme. "I've >read a bunch of environmental scripts, but I haven't read any good ones," >he says, chuckling at both the earnestness of environmentalists and the >vapidity of Hollywood -- worlds few other people straddle as thoroughly as >he. "I do think it's a good idea," he goes on. "It's not like I'm totally >unaware of that. And my mom, who has become a frickin' major >environmentalist in her own right, is always encouraging me to do an >environmental movie.">>While he keeps his eye out for a good script, Harrelson is counting on >others to keep spreading the environmental message as well. "The message is >being carried by a lot of wonderful people, particularly in the Bay Area," >he says. "It's about caring for other people, being humanitarian, caring >for Mother Nature and using all the alternatives.">>"We gotta do everything we can to get away from petrochemicals," he >continues adamantly. "I think that is the No. 1 issue now -- and I never >thought I'd say that over ancient trees. The No. 1 issue now is we've gotta >get off the dinosaur tit and get back to basics.">>But even Harrelson struggles with doing all he can. "On the mainland I'll >all too often end up being in a car that runs on regular fuel -- it's just >inevitable. But plane travel is probably my worst transgression." Though >Harrelson says he's aware of carbon offsets for air travel -- the idea that >airline passengers can give money to tree-planting programs to absorb the >carbon dioxide their trip adds to the atmosphere -- he hasn't taken >advantage of them yet. In this he's like everyone: Even if we know the >right thing to do, we don't always do it.>>Nonetheless, Harrelson's commitment is sincere: Call him on his residual >carbon emissions and he'll get the ball rolling to solve the problem. "I >should zero out my carbon," he told me when I brought it up. "If I don't >follow through on that, I'll let you know.">>It's this disarmingly genuine character that makes Harrelson's strong >environmental convictions so robust. He even acknowledges that, as a rich >man, a sustainable life is easier for him. "Well, they got a good point," >he says of people who bring this up, but adds, "I'm sure if it's important >to someone, they'll do it in their own way.">>Harrelson believes that people have an innate capacity to do the right >thing once they have a sense of the facts and of their options. This has >been his guiding principle as his daughters, now 8 and 12, grow. "I try not >to preach to these kids," he says, "because I want them to think for >themselves and I don't want 'em to get tainted by my own viewpoint. >However, they are extremely conscious -- they're way more aware than I was >when I was their age.">>"They're constantly in nature -- the school is in walking distance -- and >the people around them are always loving and supportive. They get in the >ocean every day; they have a horse they ride on; they pick their breakfast >from the trees on our land. It could not be more different from my >childhood growing up in a suburb of Houston, Texas.">>"I don't think they need much protectin'," Harrelson says when I ask him >what will happen when his daughters become more aware of consumer culture. >"They're just really aware and sensitive beings -- if anything, they're >teaching me. I don't feel like they go off into the consumer culture >mentality. Sometimes they'll wanna watch a certain movie or something like >that, but they're not materialistic yet. I'm sure society will somehow >bring it home to 'em eventually. I hope they'll stay strong, centered and >focused.">>Harrelson acknowledges that these are troubled times, but he stays hopeful. >"I believe it's darkest before the dawn," he says. "There is gonna be a >shift, but it's gonna require a brand of unity among those who care that we >haven't seen yet: unity among all the cultural creatives who look at this >madness in the world and want to do something about it." (Cultural >creatives are members of a silent but potentially influential body of >Americans identified by social scientists Paul Ray and Sherry Andersen.)>>"Cultural creatives are just not aware that there are so many others like >them," continues Harrelson. "But they're 26 percent of the >population. It does feel like one voice against the machine a lot of times, >but if we joined all our voices in unison -- into a choir of sorts -- we >would have incredible power.">>"On the surface it's a political problem because our government sucks, but >it's really an economic problem," Harrelson goes on in his measured island >pace. "The corporations are the puppeteers. Until we address the money we >give to the puppeteers, things will never change.">>"It requires coordination between all these great organizations, like >MoveOn.org and California Peace Action and Guerilla News Network and Truth >Out. Just get everybody together to get the word out: 'Here's who we gotta >boycott.' Chevron or Texaco -- they were both war profiteers recently, >which I find particularly heinous. I don't think it would be a hard thing. >You affect their margins a fraction of a percentage point, and they'll pay >attention. I think that's the thing they're most afraid of.">>>>-->Gregory Dicum, author of Window Seat: Reading the Landscape from the Air, >writes about the natural world from San Francisco. A forester by training, >Gregory has worked at the front lines of some of the world's most urgent >environmental crises. For more of his work, see http://www.di . /list>>_______________>FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! >http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/>_______________FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/