Matt Damon has already been a part of my green celebrities series. Damon is the founder of the H2O Africa Foundation, which merged with WaterPartners in 2009 to form Water.org., an organization trying to bring clean water to everyone in the world. He is also one of the celebrity founders of No On Our Watch, which also includes George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Jerry Weintraub, and Brad Pitt. He is an ambassador for OneXOne, which helps improve the lives of children in our country, Canada, and the world. He is also a spokesman for Feeding America as well as member of the organizations Entertainment Council. He’s a board member of Tonic Mailstopper, which attempts to save trees by halting junk mail.
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But, that’s not all. Damon’s a propionate of education. He narrated the 2011 documentary American Teacher perhaps in part because his mom is an American teacher. If you missed the video of him going all Good Will Hunting on a reporter for her inane questions about teachers, take time to watch it – it is hilarious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB5vL4bJeug
Now with all that on his plate plus making movies and raising his beautiful children, you would think that would be enough, but no, Matt’s not done. He is also supports ONE Campaign, which fights AIDS and poverty in Third World countries.
And it was his support for that cause that made him make a somewhat shocking statement this week, “I would kiss George W. Bush on the mouth for what he did for PEPFAR.” PEPFAR was Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that committed $15 billion between 2003 and 2008 to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Some called it the largest health initiative ever initiated by one country to address a disease.
Damon was doing an interview for The Atlantic when he made this statement. He did clarify his statement by saying the kiss would last “Three second. No tongue.”
You don’t hear many celebs saying nice things about George Dubya these days, but Damon appreciated Bush’s efforts to help AIDS relief. In the interview, he wished the Obama administration would use that effort as inspiration to help bring clean water to the world, saying “Water and sanitation needs their own PEPFAR.” It is estimated that 884 million people lack access to clean water, something we Americans often take for granted. This lack of clean water results in more than 3.5 million deaths each year.