Celebrities and their pet charities are a popular topic in this blog. Libby and I have written about stars lending a hand to the homeless, the innocent, and the sick. But, this week the spotlight focused on a growing concern among politicians, actors, and musicians—the environment.
Actress Cameron Diaz, hip-hop producer Pharrell, and former vice president Al Gore joined forces to announce an international campaign to promote global warming awareness. The monster event to be held this summer is called Save Our Selves – The Campaign for a Climate in Crisis. It features a 24-hour “Live Earth” concert, which will take place on seven continents on July 7th. More than 100 music acts, including Pharrell, John Legend, Black Eyed Peas, Fall Out Boy and Kelly Clarkson will be performing.
“This is the only issue in the history of mankind that affects every single one of us – our planet is in danger,” Diaz told reporters. “But at least someone is doing something about it.”
Pharrell told reporters the event is going to go down in history as “the biggest party on earth.” Currently, the concerts are scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; Sydney, Australia; London and cities to be announced in Japan, Brazil and the United States.
“We have a climate crisis that is a planetary emergency,” said Gore, whose movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” is nominated for two Academy Awards. “We have to respond. In order to that, we need to get the message of urgency and hope to billions of people around the world.”
While, Diaz, Pharrell, and Gore concentrate on the environment Nicole Kidman was getting the word out on U.N. backed human rights efforts. Yesterday, the actress addressed guests at an event to mark the 10-year anniversary of the establishment of the U.N. Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women.
The actress who also holds the position of goodwill ambassador of the U.N. Development Fund for Women spoke about her recent tour of Kosovo. Kidman relayed survival stories with guests and praised the U.N. fund designed to end violence against women worldwide, saying it had “made a difference in the lives of countless people.”
According to Kidman, in the past decade the fund has granted more than $13 million to 226 initiatives around the globe, including in Kosovo where agents have been dispatched to assess the impact of the 1990s war on women.