The Unlikely Warrior for Generation Extinction
Posted December 1, 2010 in Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
It's not often that you associate vampires (bloodthirsty night-dwellers) with environmental activists (solar-loving vegetarians) but friend of NRDC Ian Somerhalder is trying to bridge the gap by launching the IS Foundation. His new foundation endeavors to empower, educate and collaborate with people around the world seeking to enact change to benefit humanity and protect the environment in which we live.
As a Louisiana native, Ian was down on the front lines of the Gulf oil disaster, wading through marshes and reporting from Barataria Bay and Grand Isle, some of the hardest areas hit by the incoming oil. Since then, Ian developed his foundation to promote the work NRDC and other conservation and clean energy organizations are working toward. He also co-founded Go Green Mobile Power earlier this year as an effort to invest in mobile renewable energy sources that can be used around the world.
Earlier this year, NRDC worked with Robert Redford and Ryan Reynolds, two other prominent actors and activists who are working to shape public awareness of environmental issues here at home. They see how these issues touch their own lives and those of their friends and family and recognize that we as a country can choose a better path, a clean energy path – one that embraces American ingenuity in order to create a stronger, healthier nation.
When Ian grew up in Covington, a small town outside of New Orleans, with family working in the oil and gas industry of the Gulf, I doubt he expected to become a global advocate for clean energy choices, but what he’s doing with his foundation is a public call to action that must take place in our society to protect what we hold valuable and to restore our natural resources before they are gone.
