Through their work in Hollywood, these superstars have gained massive followings and gained a significant amount of money – but rather than just enjoying their luxurious lifestyles, these celebrities have decided to take a stand and use their wealth to make a difference.
These celebrities have seen problems in the world around them – and uniquely found ways that they can fix them. Whether it means starting a more eco-friendly business, raising awareness, or giving away millions of dollars a year – these stars are doing everything they can to help the planet.
Jaden and Will Smith
Jaden Smith was only 10 when he first became aware of pollution. He was enjoying the ocean, when he spotted trash – plastic bottles – bobbing along beside him. He was so upset by it, he told his parents. It should come as no surprise that when the young environmentalist learned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (the largest accumulation of plastic litter in the ocean, about twice the size of Texas, AKA the great trash vortex) he urged his family to do everything they could to help.
Now Jaden and his father Will Smith are the co-founders of an eco-friendly bottled water company called Just. Its mission? Reducing the use of plastics and carbon dioxide emissions globally. The company's packaging is almost entirely renewable, and the bottles themselves are made from sugarcane instead of plastic.
“This was a company born out of a child’s love for the ocean,” Will Smith told The Associated Press.
Mark Ruffalo
Strongest Avenger Mark Ruffalo became an environmental activist about ten years ago, when his beloved farm in upstate New York was threatened by fracking (a means of drilling down into the earth and injecting high-pressure liquid in order to release gas inside, which is controversial due to groundwater contamination and concerns around earth tremors.) Since then, Ruffalo has used his fame to raise awareness for all kinds of environmental issues – including fracking.
The actor speaks frequently at anti-fracking rallies, anti-pipeline protests, and campaigns to support The Green New Deal. Until 2019, he had kept his acting career and activism separate. Then he made the film Dark Waters. The film, which Ruffalo both stars in and produced – is a legal thriller about the real life story of Robert Bilott, who put together a case against the chemical manufacturing company DuPont, after their unregulated chemicals contaminated a town.
Ruffalo took the role very seriously. He told the Sierra Club, "It’s an awesome responsibility to actually play a real human being, so I spent as much time with Rob as I could to get a sense of his physical life, what he thought, what he believed in, what made him tick, and what the motive was to stay with something so difficult for so long, and to sacrifice so much."
Ruffalo shows no sign of slowing down. He has even testified before the House Science Committee about the importance of safety regulations.
Matt Damon
Matt Damon is also thinking about water, but he's tackling a different problem: the global water crisis.
The Hollywood superstar teamed up with Gary White, one of the world's leading experts on safe water and sanitation, in order to found Water.org. This nonprofit helps families struggling with poverty to get microloans, so that they can have running water in their homes, or have filtration systems. At first, the demand was higher than the amount of available capital – but Damon put his own money on the line to help.
Damon invested the first million dollars – and he inspired other wealthy people to do the same. They transformed the Water.org into WaterEquity, a fund which allows investors to invest in a portfolio that works to deliver access to save water.
“Look, you know, I have extra money,” the Oscar-winner told White, “There are [other] people like me. Why wouldn’t they want their money that’s sitting around to do something really good in the world for nominally less of a return?”
Prince William
Prince William isn't the only royal to be working to combat the climate crisis – but he is the only one partnered with David Attenborough to do it. The two have joined forces in order to create what they have dubbed, a "Nobel Prize for Environmentalism" – the Earthshot Prize.
Founded in 2020, the Earthshot prize will give out five awards of $1.3 million a year for ten years. The goals stated are: protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world, and fix our climate.
"The Earthshot prize is really about harnessing that optimism and that urgency to find some of the world's solutions to some of the greatest environmental problems," the Prince told the BBC.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio has been fighting against the climate crisis for a long time. When he was only 23, he founded The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation with the goal of addressing the biggest environmental concerns facing the planet. Since then, the LDF has awarded over $80 million in grants to more than 200 environmentalist projects.
The beloved actor turned executive producer for several documentaries about the environment and protecting animals, including Cowspiracy, Before the Flood, and Sea of Shadows. His environmental investments have gone beyond films, as well. DiCaprio has put his money where his mouth is and invested in multiple vegan companies, including the popular plant-based meat alternative, Beyond Meat.
DiCaprio has taken every opportunity to raise awareness, even using his 2016 Oscar acceptance speech to speak out:
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. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed. – Leonardo DiCaprio
Sources: live kindly, LDF, Ocean Cleanup, AP, BBC, WaterEquity, Penta, Sierra Club