Source: Ecorazzi - Back in May, we caught wind that Warner Bros was starting to use solar-powered generators to add a bit more green to film sets like Inception and other projects. Not surprisingly, is who pushed for that to happen.
“A lot of this movie (‘Inception’) was made with solar power,” Leonardo DiCaprio said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “It’s the first movie I got to do with solar power. I had a conversation about it with Alan Horn, who’s the head of Warner Bros. The generators that we had on the set were all powered by solar energy. It’s going to be a big conversion to do stuff like that every day, not just in making movies but everything in the world.”
Those generators Horn eventually settled on are made by Pure Power Distribution. As I mentioned in my previous post, such a rig not only tracks the position of the sun for optimal efficiency, but also outputs 600 Amps/72,000 watts of “pure sine wave power with no noise, and no emissions”. That’s enough to keep about a ton of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere each day – along with the other 40 carcinogens found in diesel exhaust.
“We do a lot of things in the world that are wasteful,” Leo added. “We keep talking about this all the time. Hopefully, fingers crossed, with these small steps, we’ll make that transition on a much larger scale in the future.”
Source: Ecorazzi - Remember the days when tuna fish sandwiches were a simple yet reliable lunchbox staple, sharing neck-in-neck popularity with peanut butter and jelly on white? Somewhere along the line, America transitioned its appetite for the academic lunch hour brain food into a full throttle love affair for its sushi-fied incarnation with specialty restaurants quintupling from 1988 – 1998, contributing to the ultimate decline of an entire species.
Today, our global culture’s insatiable hunger for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (attributed to 40 years of overfishing) has been responsible for a population decline of 97%, which is hard to imagine given their hefty 1500 pound size. As if our appetite for the highly sought after protein source weren’t enough of a threat to its existence, bluefin tuna typically spawn throughout the spring and summer months in the Gulf of Mexico, which as everyone knows, spells doom for the species now that it is tainted with oil. In fact, scientists estimate that billions upon billions of bluefin larvae were likely in the gulf at the time that the Deepwater Horizon spill first occurred and though they have a strong sense of smell (and can probably detect oil), their Gulf spawning instinct is probably stronger.
Entourage star Adrian Grenier – a longtime proponent of various ecological causes – has just filmed a public service announcement for Oceana entitled Going Fast which sheds light on the plight of bluefin tuna. Citing his refusal to “sit back idly while this amazing predator is being pushed to the brink of extinction”, the 34 year old acknowledges that “fishing bluefin at alarming rates” has resulted in a critical time for them that we must address through real world action.
There is a ray of hope for the fish since the Center For Biological Diversity filed a request for endangered species status back in May, but the process will likely take years of analysis and consideration before a final decision is reached. In the meantime, actors such as Grenier using their high profile status to educate the public on environmental concerns such as this is one step in the right direction. Learn more about what you can personally do to help imperiled marine species such as bluefin tuna via Oceana’s website.
Source: Yahoo - "The Cove," an Oscar-winning film about a Japanese dolphin-hunting village, opened Saturday around Japan after protests by angry nationalists pressured theaters to cancel earlier showings.
Some of the six small cinemas sold out their initial shows and others were mostly empty. Another 18 are due to begin screening the film at later dates.
At Image Forum, an art theater in Tokyo, about 30 protesters waved Japanese flags and blasted slogans against the film. Police stopped shoving matches between the protesters and a handful of supporters of the showing.
Viewers were undeterred, and the first two showings at the theater were sold out.
"I didn't know about dolphin hunting. Whether it's TV or movies, Japanese have a right to know these things," Tomokazu Toshinai, 32, said as he entered the theater.
Last month, three other theaters canceled planned screenings of the film after noisy protests and a telephone campaign against the movie. Nationalist groups say the U.S.-produced film is anti-Japanese, distorts the truth, and has deep connections with a militant anti-whaling organization.
The issue erupted into a broad debate on freedom of speech. Major newspapers condemned the cancellations in editorials, and prominent film makers, journalists and lawyers urged the theaters not to back down.
Some cinemas are trying to show both sides. A theater in the central city of Nagoya plans to screen "The Cove" along with "Whalers and the Sea," a 1998 documentary that presents a favorable view of Japanese whaling.
Japanese nationalist groups, known for blasting slogans from truck convoys and handheld loudspeakers, often use noisy protests as an intimidation tactic. The movie's Japanese distributor, Unplugged Inc., and Yokohama New Theater, a small cinema near Tokyo, obtained court orders to keep protesters away after repeated demonstrations outside their offices.
"The Cove," which won a 2010 Oscar for best documentary, stars Ric O'Barry, a former trainer for the "Flipper" TV show who is now a dolphin activist. It documents how a group of filmmakers used hidden cameras to capture scenes of a dolphin slaughter in the small fishing village of Taiji.
Taiji's government and fishing cooperative defend dolphin hunting as a local custom with a long history. Bottlenose dolphins killed in the hunt are not endangered, and hunts are also carried out in other parts of Japan, although very few Japanese have ever eaten dolphin meat.
Fishermen in the village have objected to being shown in the film without their permission. Nationalists say the film has connections to Sea Shepherd, an anti-whaling group that has been labeled a terrorist organization by Japan's government for its militant actions against Japanese whalers.
The movie includes a sympathetic interview with Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson, who is now on Interpol's wanted list at Japan's request for allegedly masterminding the group's disruption of Japanese whale hunts in the Antarctic Ocean.
Some information in the movie has been challenged by government officials, and the Japanese version includes a disclaimer saying the data were gathered by and are the responsibility of the film's creators. The faces of most Japanese in the film have been blurred out.
On Saturday at Image Forum in Tokyo, protesters waved nationalistic flags from World War II and placards saying the film is one-sided and unfairly singles out Japanese while ignoring animal hunts in the West.
"I agree with the protesters here who are saying the way the movie portrayed the theme is rather problematic," said Yasutomo Maki, 51, a company executive who saw it in Tokyo.
"I think we need to approve freedom of expression. But the question is how far we should stretch it."
Source: Ecorazzi.com - The colonel and his minions at KFC have been on our list for years, thanks to their terrible mistreatment of animals, but this, THIS, just might seal the deal for first place in the “Worst Company Ever” awards!
News recently broke that a large percentage of the fast food giant’s famous red-and-white tubs are sourced from trees in the environmentally sacred Green Swamp in southeastern North Carolina.
According to the The Nature Conservancy, the Green Swamp “is the center of an incredibly rich assembly of plant life. Featuring a complex of longleaf pine savannas and limesink ponds bound together by thousands of acres of pocosin (a type of evergreen shrub bog), the area is home to more than 400 vascular plant species and provides habitat for animals such as red-cockaded woodpecker and black bear.”
Because this must, must, must be stopped, the Dogwood Alliance has launched “Kentucky Fried Forest”– a campaign to educate the public about KFC’s blatant disregard for this pristine habitat. In response, the company, of course, is off spewing PR mumbo-jumbo.
“KFC is as committed to the environment as we are to our food and to our customers,” says KFC spokesman Rick Maynard in an email to Wallet Pop journalist Jim Motavalli. “We are proud of the steps we have taken so far to reduce our environmental footprint and are committed as a brand to do even more in the in future. It’s an ongoing journey and we are keeping our customers informed along the way.”
Really? I mean are you really proud, Rick? Cause I bet that when you leave work for the day and think, really think, about what KFC is doing, you aren’t proud; there’s no way you could be.
To learn more about how you can do your part to stop this pure, unleaded ridiculousness, visit KentuckyFriedForests.com.
Source: Ecorazzi - Commercial whaling is at the forefront of our thoughts due to the possible reversal of the moratorium on whale hunting at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting this month. Looking past the inhumane slaughter of innocent animals, another ding against industrial whaling has been revealed thanks to a study published in the British biological science journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the study led by Australian biologists shows that Southern Ocean sperm whales are a key component in the fight against global warming. While it was previously believed that whales contributed to climate change due to the carbon dioxide which is released when they exhale, new data shows a bigger picture, one that includes the feces of the giant marine mammals.
Through fecal fertilization—which can be simply explained as whales pooping, the waste contains iron, the iron is used by marine plants near the ocean’s surface, and thanks to photosynthesis those plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere—the Southern Ocean sperm whales are, in a roundabout way, removing an estimated 400,000 metric tons of CO2 each year.
If we look at the numbers, the whales in the southern waters are said to release 200,000 metric tons of CO2 through respiration while their fecal fertilization removes 400,000 metric tons of CO2, leaving us with the overall elimination of 200,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. That 200,000 metric tons is equivalent to 41,841 passenger cars, according to the EPA.
An important note included in the study points out that prior to industrial whaling, those numbers could be multiplied by 10.
The report reminds us that, when left alone, everything on this planet works in an incredible synchronized system. When humans get involved—say through the mass slaughter of whales—things go awry and the system is thrown out of balance. One has to wonder where we would be with our climate change worries if we left the whales alone in the first place.
The fate of all whales will be determined through votes next week at the IWC’s annual meeting in Agadir, Morocco.
Dear friends, The international vote that could legalize commercial whale hunting is just weeks away. Let's run an ad campaign that governments won't miss, telling them the world won't accept a legal whale killing industry. In two weeks, the International Whaling Commission will hold its final vote on a proposal to legalize commercial whale hunting for the first time in a generation.
The outcome rests on whose voices are heard most clearly in the final hours: the pro-whaling lobby -- or the world's people?
We've signed the petitions -- now it's time to mount a massive final push to make our voices heard, and protect the whales. Avaaz has scoped out a giant billboard outside of Morocco's Agadir airport, a front-page advertisement in the newspapers given to attendees, street posters to line the walkways, and hand-bills to pass to delegates. From the moment they step off the plane in Agadir until they cast their deciding votes, delegates will be constantly reminded that the world won't accept legal whale slaughter.
Click here to see the impossible-to-ignore billboard, and donate to fuel this campaign... even $5 or $10 or euros makes a difference.
Thanks to the outcry of 650,000 Avaaz members, along with partners everywhere, many governments have pledged to oppose the proposal. Each time the Avaaz whale petition added 100,000 signatures, it was sent again to the IWC and key governments -- and some, like New Zealand, thanked all of us who had signed on.
But pressure from the other side has been relentless -- and now other governments, especially in Europe and Latin America, may abstain... or even support the proposal. The vote could go either way.
Citizen pressure is our best hope. After all, it was an explosive worldwide social movement in the 1980s that led to the commercial whaling ban we're now trying to protect. When the International Whaling Commission meets in Morocco this June 22, let's make sure the world's voices are there to greet them.
After the global ban was first implemented on commercial whaling, the number of whales killed each year plummeted from 38,000 per year to just a couple of thousand. It's a testament to the power of humanity to move forward. As we move to confront the other crises of the modern age, let's cherish this legacy of progress -- by joining together now to protect our majestic and intelligent neighbors on this fragile planet.
With hope,
Ben, Ben M, Maria Paz, Benjamin, David, Graziela, Iain, Luis, Ricken, and the whole Avaaz team
P.S.: Despite the ban, Japan, Norway, and Iceland have continued whaling -- and are now pushing to make the IWC proposal as lenient as possible. Expecting permission to catch more whales than ever, Japan is reportedly planning to buy its largest whaling ship yet. Click here to fund an advertising blitz and campaign at the IWC meeting to oppose commercial whaling.
Source: LAist - In a split decision, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors today approved a boycott of Arizona over its controversial immigration law, SB 1070. The 3-2 vote means county employees cannot travel to the state unless "the county’s chief executive determines it would seriously harm county interests," according to the LA Times.
"The boycott also calls for a divestiture of Arizona’s state and municipal bonds by the county’s pension fund." Mark Ridley-Thomas was the deciding vote when he joined Gloria Molina, who introduced the measure, and Zev Yaroslavsky in approving the measure. Don Knabe and Michael Antonovich voted no. “We need solutions, not boycotts,” said Antonovich.
Source: ecorazzi - 'Attack of the Show' co-host Olivia Munn recently spoke with Pop Tarts about her disappointment in President Obama’s decision not to pursue the legalization of gay marriage and her role in PETA’s “Boycott the Circus” campaign.
Munn told Pop Tarts, “It’s ridiculous and I’m really upset that Obama, as a black man, and all the things that African Americans have gone through after being oppressed, has said ‘you’re less than’ and cannot stand up and say marriage is a union between two individuals who love each other.” The Iron Man 2 actress believes that everyone should have the ability to exercise the same rights.
The 29 year old, who is not only passionate about gay rights but also animal rights, wanted to address her PETA circus ad, clearing up the rumors which claim she was nude during the photo shoot.
“I actually didn’t get naked,” said Munn. “I haven’t gotten naked ever. I was wearing a tank top and boy shorts but I am comfortable with it appearing that way. There is nothing wrong with the naked body, but I wasn’t naked on the set. I wouldn’t be comfortable.”
The 29 year old is currently working on a story which shares humorous accounts of her life in Hollywood including tidbits from housesitting for her first agent to meeting “douchey people” in L.A.
Source: AP - President Barack Obama's new national security strategy says armed conflict should be a last resort when diplomacy is exhausted, stepping back from the Bush administration's doctrine of pre-emptive war and its call for the U.S. to go it alone in defending against foreign threats.
The overarching goal of Obama's National Security Strategy, intended to guide U.S. military and diplomatic policy for years, is to eliminate the need for the U.S. to strike first or take unilateral military action.
In the president's first formal declaration of his national security strategy, Obama breaks with some of his predecessors in putting heavy emphasis on the value of global cooperation, developing wider security partnerships and helping other nations defend themselves.
Obama's apparent effort to move away from the Bush national security legacy without outright repudiation of it seemed likely to draw criticism from the left, which had hoped for a more direct rejection of the doctrine of pre-emptive war. Republicans, on the other hand, seem certain to criticize the policy's emphasis on diplomacy and development aid as evidence Obama is weak on defense issues.
While the document describes the Obama administration's broad national security goals, it mentions al-Qaida specifically and repeatedly and singles out U.S. adversaries Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programs.
Like some of his predecessors, Obama includes a commitment to building the nation's economic health as part of his security strategy. A key tenet of his domestic agenda is creating what he calls a "new foundation" for the economic future through better education, national debt reduction, a stronger U.S. clean energy industry, greater scientific research and a revamped health care system.
Obama says in the document that success in these areas is crucial to maintaining U.S. influence abroad.
"Our strategy starts by recognizing that our strength and influence abroad begins with the steps we take at home," the president wrote in a preface.
The strategy also says that in an age of globalization, economic turmoil in other nations can directly affect the lives of Americans. "We have also seen how shocks to the global economy can precipitate disaster," the document says.
The strategy paper, required by Congress and the first produced since 2006, departs from past practice in citing the threats of homegrown terrorists, cybersecurity and climate change.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the new strategy Wednesday and was briefed on the White House thinking that produced it.
In his first 16 months in office, Obama has pursued a strategy of gentle persuasion, sometimes summarized as "engagement."
His administration has attended more closely to ties with Europe, sought to improve relations with Russia, pushed harder to restart stalled Mideast peace talks and consulted widely on a road map for defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Obama's critics, however, assert that his policies have largely failed, given the continued defiance of Iran and North Korea on nuclear development, the stalemate in Afghanistan and rising worries about terrorist attacks at home. The White House argues that there is movement in the right direction, albeit sometimes small, and that more time will show the approach is working.
Presidents use the National Security Strategy to set broad goals and priorities for keeping Americans safe. But the document isn't an academic exercise: It has far-reaching effects on spending, defense policies and security strategy.
John Brennan, the White House's top counterterrorism adviser, said Wednesday that the administration would add combating homegrown terrorism to its strategy for the first time.
Attacks like the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, last year, which killed 13 people, as well as the failed Times Square bombing on May 1, have thrust homegrown terrorism into the spotlight, and U.S. citizens such as Najibullah Zazi and David Headley have been charged with plotting terror attacks.
President Bill Clinton did not mention domestic terrorism in his 1998 revision, even though the Oklahoma City bombing had occurred just three years earlier. Bush made only passing reference to homegrown terrorism in his final National Security Strategy in 2006.
Obama's document calls for more robust U.S. efforts at diplomacy, intelligence gathering and development aid to make the use of military force less likely.
"What we want to do is give ourselves more options," said Ben Rhodes, communications director for the White House National Security Council. "There are obviously going to be times when you have to use force. ... But in order to use force less, you need other means for addressing security threats and resolving problems."
The document spells out that force would be carried out in a way that reflects U.S. values and strengthens the nation's legitimacy in the eyes of an often skeptical world.
"While the use of force is sometimes necessary, we will exhaust other options before war whenever we can and carefully weigh the costs and risks of action against the costs of risks of inaction," it says.
The debate over pre-emptive war largely arises out of the 2003 Iraq invasion. At the time, Bush insisted he had exhausted all diplomatic and international options and weighed all the dangers of war before concluding the invasion was crucial to Americans' safety.
"We must be prepared to stop rogue states and their terrorist clients before they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass destruction against the United States and our allies and friends," the Bush strategy from 2002 said, with Iraq clearly in mind. The following year, U.S. forces led the invasion, launching a conflict that has lasted far longer and cost far more money and lives than Bush intended.
Obama's document enshrines principles and policies that he has advocated since his election campaign. It will be the foundation for a National Military Strategy document, due soon.
By: Thomas H. Maugh II - The discovery in the Mexican state of Chiapas, an elaborate crypt at least 2,500 years old, includes the remains of what is believed to be an early ruler of the Zoque people, archaeologists say.
U.S. and Mexican archaeologists have discovered one of the oldest tombs in Mesoamerica, a burial chamber from at least 2,500 years ago in the state of Chiapas that contains the remains of what appears to be one of the first powerful rulers of the Zoque people.
"There certainly isn't any tomb that is earlier … and this is the only one found at the very crest of a pyramid, which makes the find rather special," said archaeologist Bruce R. Bachand of Brigham Young University, one of the tomb's discoverers.
The tomb "is by far the most elaborate" of those from the period, he added, and is the only one that has been found to contain human remains. Because of the acidic soil in the region and the high humidity, remains tend to decompose relatively rapidly.
The find, announced May 17, sheds new light on the origins of the Zoque, who are generally thought to be descended from early emigrants from the Olmec culture, which was centered to the west.
Source: CelebsGoneGood - Twilight star Robert Pattinson announced that his favorite charity is the World Wildlife Fund, a worldwide organization focused on protecting nature. With his new film, Pattinson, his fans, and the WWF will be focusing on the conservation of elephants.
Source: ecorazzi - On May 24, Jack Johnson will take over the Santa Monica Pier to promote the release of his latest album To The Sea and raise awareness for the environmental organization Heal The Bay. Previously, free concert tickets were up for grabs for the first 2000 people to commit to a 2-hour beach cleanup on May 22.
Those who missed out on the volunteer signup can still win tickets through May 23 by following @jackjohnson and @brushfire on Twitter. Additionally, Johnson encourages fans to join Heal the Bay in their efforts to keep California beaches free of garbage by participating in the organization’s monthly cleanup programs.
To The Sea, which will be released on June 1, was recorded at the Mango Tree in Hawaii and the Solar Powered Plastic Plant in Los Angeles—both solar-powered studios. The Santa Monica Pier concert kicks off Johnson’s summer tour. As with the 2008 tour, Jack Johnson will once again donate 100% of his 2010 tour profits to charity.
Source: Celebsgonegood - Christina Aguilera is back… for good! (Pun intended.) On top of her new single climbing the charts, Christina was recently named as an “Ambassador Against Hunger” for the UN’s World Food Programme. The diva is no stranger to traveling the world, and continues to add to her list of do-gooding destinations, having recently returned from a trip to Guatemala. Her next stop? Haiti.
The five-time Grammy Award winner made an appearance on Oprah on Friday, naming the birth of her son as one of the inspirations behind both her new album and her charity initiatives. The singer said, “A child dies every six seconds of hunger which is a huge statistic for me. After having my own child I just had to be a part of it and do something about it and help change that situation.”
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest hunger-fighting agency, whose goals are to save and protect lives in times of emergency, help communities prepare, restore, and rebuild after disasters, and to educate people on how to alleviate chronic hunger and malnutrition.
Source: CNN - Editor's
note: CNN's Moni Basu followed Sean Penn in Haiti on May 4, documenting
the celebrity's life as an aid worker, including his efforts to save a
boy with diphtheria.
At base camp, Sean Penn sits under a lampshade made with discarded Chef Boyardee packages and pulls closer a Bic lighter dangling from a rope.
It's not quite 7 a.m. and Penn is smoking another Marlboro Light. He brought Nicorettes with him to Haiti, but quickly gave up on the idea of refraining from cigarettes.
He runs his hands through disheveled hair, takes another drag. Wrapped in an embossed white towel and barefoot, he says no hellos, makes no attempt at niceties.
He starts telling a harrowing tale from the day before.
He hunted every corner of Port-au-Prince for an antitoxin for Oriel, a 15-year-old boy who contracted diphtheria, an acutely infectious disease spread through respiratory droplets.
The American Red Cross didn't have it. Nor did any of the major hospitals. Penn even had the U.S. military on the search.
The United States stockpiles the vaccine and antitoxin. But in Haiti, it took Penn -- even with his star power -- 11 hours to get his hands on one dose.
It was at a medical warehouse and Penn wrested the head of the World Health Organization from bed to unlock the door at a late hour.
"This country is not ready for an emergency," he says.
"Three months in and nobody in the major hospitals knew where to find the immunoglobulin. That kinda says it all to me."
Oriel had been brought to a clinic at the encampment of earthquake-displaced people at the Petionville Golf Club, which Penn's newly formed aid agency J/P Haitian Relief Organization has been helping to manage.
The boy had started feeling symptoms six days earlier. Doctors quickly realized that he had diphtheria. No hospital wanted to admit the boy, Penn says. They did not have the capacity to prevent infection. Penn hand- carried him to General Hospital, the city's main medical care facility, where doctors finally agreed to place Oriel on life support.
Penn feels personally responsible -- for the boy, for the entire camp, for the city. Diphtheria could spread lightning fast through the congested tents and shanties.
Haiti grapples with diphtheria and other killer diseases every year, but after the quake doctors feared the worst. Oriel was the first case of "the worst" discovered at the golf course camp.
Early on, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had urged immediate vaccination against diphtheria and recommended having the antitoxin on hand.
Penn cannot comprehend why, with an abundance of aid agencies working in Haiti, prevention like this has to be so difficult. He is not one to shield his anger, or mince words. "If the boy were to die," he says, "this would be murder."
Celebrity in a foreign land
Penn is hardly new to heroic endeavors. He's flown to the eye of a hurricane, to the front lines of war. A few years back, he traveled to Iraq and Iran and wrote about both countries for the San Francisco Chronicle.
He was in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina -- his right arm bears a tattoo that says: "NOLA, Deliver Me."
His presence in all those places and now in Haiti draws skepticism and ire from those who think that celebrities use tragedies to burnish their public images. Penn has been mocked and caricatured by filmmakers, writers and talk-show hosts for taking up causes.
But he brushes it all aside. Someone, he says, has to get it done.
He landed in Haiti a week after the earthquake, he says, with a genuine concern. He insists he will be here for the long haul, that he's more than a celebrity goodwill ambassador who has dropped in to smile with orphaned kids for a day.
No stunts. No gimmicks. His staffers say the actor is simply following his heart.
The Oscar-winning star has shed his life of comfort and glamour for the unassuming role of aid worker. For the past few weeks he has been helping manage 50,000 displaced Haitians living in the camp that sprouted on the nine-hole course at the capital's once-exclusive golf club.
Perched atop a hill that affords a view of Port-au-Prince, the star of movies like "Dead Man Walking," "Mystic River" and "Milk" might have been a guest here in former years, sipping a rum punch on a balmy evening. These days, he's sleeping in a tent along with a small proletarian staff. They wear navy blue shirts with the J/P HRO logo loudly emblazoned -- and answer only to Penn. Void of the bureaucracy common at the United Nations and other major humanitarian agencies, Penn says his J/P HRO, is often able to get things done faster.
The group's work began in the weeks after the quake with the disbursal of critically needed aid. Then Penn noticed the tremendous need at the crowded golf club camp, one of the city's largest and completely vulnerable to rain and treacherous mudslides.
Penn called in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division to help secure the hills with gravel and sandbags.
"Pretty soon, we were managing a camp," he says. "Then you find you are filling a gap and you feel responsibility to keep going."
He negotiates the terrain in a bright red golf cart that says "SEAN PENN" in the front, though few recognized him when he first arrived. Even now, some camp residents barely recognize the name.
"Yes, I know," said one. "He is Madonna's first husband."
Penn, who will turn 50 this year, found it liberating to move without paparazzi or fans asking for autographs.
It was the anonymity he once knew growing up in southern California, before his breakthrough role in the 1983 film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
Then came his turbulent marriage to Madonna, a barrage of bad tabloid headlines and jail time for punching an extra who tried to snap his picture.
Learn more about Haiti relief efforts on "Impact Your World"
But he's no bad boy here at the Petionville Golf Club.
"He is helping us. He is a good man," says camp resident Junior Vital.
Penn's group relocated about 5,000 people to safer ground at Corail, a new temporary camp on the outskirts of the city, where flooding and mud will not threaten them in the rainy season.
In the landscape of Haiti's tragedy, Penn's accomplishments are small. But things don't happen quickly here.
In that context, aid workers here gave him kudos for his successes.
"It was a Band-Aid measure," Penn says. "But it meant a lot to us."
Still, he recognizes he's a newbie to the aid business. And a possible diphtheria outbreak is not the kind of emergency the Hollywood actor is used to addressing... Read More at CNN.com
Source: BBC - Lenny Kravitz is to headline a benefit concert in New Orleans to support relief efforts for those affected by a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Kravitz, who lives part-time in the Louisiana city, was among the first to sign up for Sunday's concert.
Ani DiFranco, Allen Toussain and Mos Def will also take part in the event at the Mardi Gras World River City.
Since 20 April, oil has been escaping at a rate of 210,000 gallons a day after an explosion on a BP-leased rig.
Proceeds from the event will benefit fishermen and their families, whose livelihoods depend on the Gulf, as well as organisations that protect Louisiana's coast.
Ewell Smith, executive director of the Lousiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board said the fishermen "appreciated" the effort.
"Thousands of families across South Louisiana will potentially be impacted for years to come and will need all the help they can get to survive," he added.
"Without them, we lose a vital part of our culture and heritage."
