Who’s Who in Green: Woody Harrelson

You won’t find Woody Harrelson living in a huge mansion in Beverly Hills with a garage full of SUVs. It’s not his style. This actor lives perhaps the greenest life of any celebrity around – a simple, easygoing life in a sustainable solar-powered community of 200 on the island of Maui.

Harrelson, a vegan raw foodist who has been arrested in the past for his environmental activism, credits his Cheers co-star Ted Danson with getting him interested in environmental issues. But, the self-described “Hollywood Hippie” has had environmental leanings for as long as he can remember. As a child, Harrelson got beat up by other kids for defending a pile of ants.

As he told SF Gate, “…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.”

That spurred a series of changes in his own life, and a desire to help out with green causes. In 1996, Harrelson climbed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco with the Rainforest Action Network to protest logging of ancient redwoods. Of the public reaction to this arrest and another one in Kentucky for planting industrial hemp seeds, Harrelson expresses a bit of frustration about the fact that his celebrity tends to outshine the issues themselves. But, he has also embraced the platform that his fame gives him to raise awareness.

Harrelson started a number of projects to help spread the word about sustainability, like launching the website ‘Voice Yourself’ with wife Laura Louie, which is dedicated to spreading the word about sustainable living. He also embarked on a biodiesel and pedal-powered tour of the West Coast with a group of friends to promote the sustainable lifestyle, an experience that was documented in the film ‘Go Further’. An accompanying book, ‘How to Go Further’, aims to show people how easy it can be to live a peaceful green life.

Perhaps you’ve wondered why Harrelson hasn’t yet appeared in any green-themed films. He was just waiting for the right kind of script to come along. Once it did – in the form of eco-thriller 2012 – he finally agreed to mix his two passions. The film will premiere on November 13th.

Woody Harrelson’s Green Score: 49,435

Woody Harrelson Will Live on a Remote Island and Fast for 40 Days

More Woody Harrelson news! This guy is quickly becoming my favorite eco-celeb because he’s genuine and kind of kooky, which makes writing about him more fun. Woody is known for being extremely dedicated to environmentalism, animal rights and the vegan lifestyle. In the past, he’s done some fairly eccentric things, like the 38 day green juice fast and flying his vegan shoes and belt to Cannes after forgetting them at home. Now, he’s planning the most extreme display of weird Woodyism yet.

From Now Magazine via Ecorazzi:

Woody Harrelson plans to live on a remote island and eat nothing for 40 days – to see how the experience affects his brain.

The actor, 46, will go ahead with the experiment as soon as he gets a break in his work schedule.

‘I’ve always wanted to do it,’ he says.

‘I know it’s going to be really hard. But can you imagine it? Eating nothing for 40 days? Swimming and surfing every day in a remote place? Where does the mind go?’

Yoga-loving Woody loves isolated places.

I can only imagine what would happen to my brain after 40 days. Hell, after five days I would be hallucinating. I’d start salivating, Homer Simpson style, over visions of plates of hot food and mugs of coffee. Good luck, Woody!

Link [Ecorazzi] + [Now Magazine]
Photo credit: Flickr user gohsuket

Woody Harrelson’s First Foray into Environmentalism was Saving Ants

Actor Woody Harrelson gets made fun of a lot in the media for being a hippie. And apparently, it all started when he was just a wee boy: he would put himself in a position to get beat up by other kids by defending a pile of ants.

From Ecorazzi:

“It got me into fights. But every day, I would run out just after class and stand there and stop anyone from stepping on the ant bed. I’d stay put until everyone had passed by and then I’d finally go home. I guess you could call that my first activism.” The actor sums it up: “With a name like Woody, I suppose my path was probably already established. It was inevitable that I’d be doing something like this. But people didn’t really give the environmental movement much importance back then. Now it’s a pretty hip thing to be green. But me, I’ve always been kind of a Hollywood hippie.”

Good for Woody. He went from a nerdy ant protecting kid to a crazed serial killer and porn king. No, but seriously, Woody Harrelson is one of those celebrities who really walk the walk. He lives in a solar powered sustainable community in Hawaii, runs his car on biodiesel and is heavily involved in a wide range of environmental and animal rights causes. You can read more about Harrelson’s activism at SFGate.

Link [Ecorazzi]+ [SFGate]
Photo credit: How to Go Further: A Guide to Simple Organic Living