Another piece for Trespass' Green Week. After a bit of research into how the film industry is approaching environmental challenges, I got tired of reading countless policy documents and decided to instead look at some examples of good practice in action.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
The second film in the Wachowski Brother’s Matrix trilogy took a novel approach to set dismantling. 97% of the material used in the sets was recycled at the end of the shoot. As well as having an environmental impact, this action also had a significant social impact in Mexico, where tonnes of wood from the film was sent to build 100 low-income family homes.
Native Energy
Syriana (2005)/ Inconvenient Truth (2006)/ No Country for Old Men (2007)
What do George Clooney’s film about political corruption, Al Gore’s thesis on the environment and the Coen Brother’s Oscar winning film have in common? They all worked with NativeEnergy to calculate their films’ CO² production, including filming, air travel, rental car and truck emissions, hotel energy, generators on location, emission from shipping and office and warehouse energy use and then purchased renewable energy credits to offset their environmental impact. These credits went towards projects in Native American and Alaskan communities, helping to create sustainable economies for communities in need.
The Nativity Story (2006)
The Nativity Story’s director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) and producer Marty Bowen donated $USD15,000 of their own money to off-set the environmental impact of their production.
"I consider myself pretty conservative, especially by Hollywood's standards. I don't hug trees. I like my creature comforts. But that doesn't mean I don't have a responsibility to clean up my own mess."- Marty Bowen
This Steve Carrell comedy was film studio Universal’s first attempts at an eco-friendly production. Director Tom Shadyac implemented practical on-set measures like recycling sets and bikes for crew members and using solar power and diesel fuels. Universal also had the film’s carbon emissions calculated and then offset them by donating 2000 trees to The Conservation Fund.
Roland Emmerich- Director
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)/ 2012 (2009)
Which one is actor Kenneth Walsh?
Emmerich’s disaster films about environmental apocalypses are designed to show the potential devastation that will be caused by climate change. Emmerich is obviously a man who practices what he preaches. He cast Kenneth Walsh as the American Vice-President- an actor who bares an uncanny resemblance to Dick Cheney in The Day After Tomorrow; an undoubtedly a criticism of Bush’s failure to adopt the Kyoto Protocol. Emmerich also used $USD200,000 of his own money to offset the film’s carbon emissions. This money went towards planting trees and renewable energy sources. With 2012 Emmerich went a step further to mitigate his film’s carbon footprint, not only were carbon offsets purchased, he used biofuel for the film’s generators, and all the sets were either recycled or donated to Habitat for Humanity.
Natalie Portman
As well as being a beautiful and talented actress Portman (Leon, Garden State, Closer) is also an eco warrior. Portman, along with fellow actresses Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and Chloe Sevigny (Big Love), has fronted campaigns to get Americans to switch to energy efficient, compact fluorescent light-bulbs. She has travelled to Rwanda to learn about the plight of Mountain Gorillas there, making an Animal Planet documentary Saving a Species: Gorillas on The Brink. Portman has worked with Shoes4Africa, lending her voice and face to their campaign, and keeping with the shoe theme she launched her own line of 100% vegan shoes in 2008 (unfortunately the chain that stocked them went out of business during the credit crunch).
Leonardo DiCaprio
Child actor extraordinaire turned Scorsese muse, DiCaprio (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, Shutter Island) is a committed environmentalist. Well known for his hybrid car, DiCaprio has been vocal about his environmental concerns establishing The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998. Its aim is to expand global awareness of environmental issues by promoting current Green campaigns. In 2007 DiCaprio’s documentary 11th Hour came out, which he wrote, produced and narrated. With a strong message about changing our environmental behaviour, a website 11thHourAction was launched to help individuals and communities work towards sustainable goals.
Robert Redford
A Greenie from way-back, Redford has served on the board of Natural Resources Defense Council for over 30 years. Redford has been promoting the benefits of solar energy since the 70s, producing a short film The Solar Film (1979) about solar energy that was nominated for an Academy Award. Redford has used his film festival Sundance to spread his environmental message fighting to preserve the Utah wilderness that houses the iconic festival and introducing eco-programming to the Sundance Channel.
Edward Norton
