Matt Damon took part in a grueling 68-mile South African bike race on Sunday to help raise money for the Make A Difference charity. The actor was joined by his his brother, Kyle, and the man he’s playing in a new film by Clint Eastwood, former rugby captain Francois Pienaar. Said Damon, “It was windy at first. We had a bunch of bike problems so we were on the side of the road quite a bit but it is nice to finish, it was beautiful.” [Read more...]

Pete Postlethwaite, star of the new eco-documentary, The Age of Stupid, doesn’t just play a concerned environmental activist on the screen — he’s also living green at home. A wind turbine, solar paneling and a woodchip stove are all a part of the mix. “I must give my wife Jacqui credit here – she educated me,” he says. “She’s very passionate about the environment, studied it for her OU degree and instituted the system where our rubbish gets recycled via 14 different-coloured bins. I’m joking. It’s only 12…” [Read more...]

As part of his work for Not On Our Watch, the group he helped co-found with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Don Cheadle, Matt Damon took time on Tuesday to visit refugee centers in Zimbabwe. The actor has been just over the border in South Africa filming the new movie The Human Factor directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman as the country’s first black president, Nelson Mandela. From the article,

“I have spoken to so many people who went through so much to get to this point. It is testament to the situation across the border in Zimbabwe,” Damon told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview. An estimated 3 million Zimbabweans have fled economic collapse and dire humanitarian conditions at home, and Damon said he was “shocked and saddened” by the plight of those he spoke to.

In one camp visited by Damon, about 5,000 Zimbabweans are camped on a sandy patch strewn with rubbish and personal belongings. Some have built makeshift structures out of plastic, and others sleep on pieces of cardboard. There are about a dozen toilets and only a few taps. Damon, who patiently listened to heart-wrenching stories in the scorching heat, called the situation in Musina “untenable” and said “action has to be taken” by international and regional leaders.

To learn more about Not On Our Watch, please visit their site here.

Last week’s reality check

“You find all kinds of things written about you that you don’t have the foggiest notion where they came from. I’m not a vegetarian. I love sushi and stuff like that. I do have to watch my fat intake, because I’m 78 years old.”

And, now you know. This should settle the Eastwood veggie debate once and for all. Now, about those rumors that he’s a blood-drinking Communist…

So, it was with some surprise that I read today in a NY Times interview with the actor that he is NOT a vegan. Even more disconcerting to veggie fans, Eastwood “looked slightly aghast” when told what the vegan lifestyle encompassed. That’s right — he actually had to be given the definition of veganism. This is shocking simply because the actor is often held high in the vegan community as a symbol of a tough guy, macho man that’s on their side. Based on this interview, it’s safe to assume that Clint was never a vegetarian, much less a vegan.

I guess this is a classic example of a rumor made real online — and it all appears to have come from one (probably made up) quote. But, if you learned nothing else today (God help you), now you know that Clint Eastwood is indeed NOT a vegan. Now excuse me while I go make some corrections…

To continue our Vegetarian Awareness Month celebration, today’s “Green Quote” is comprised of not one thought, but many. Here’s what some of Hollywood’s favorites have to say about being veg. Enjoy!

“I did it for political, moral reasons, thinking that I was making this great sacrifice, but it was absolutely necessary; I was not going to contribute to the violence in the world anymore.
- Alicia Silverstone

“I take vitamins daily, but just the bare essentials not what you’d call supplements. I try to stick to a vegan diet heavy on fruit, vegetables, tofu, and other soy products.”
- Clint Eastwood

“Compassion is the foundation of everything positive, everything good. If you carry the power of compassion to the marketplace and the dinner table, you can make your life really count.”
- Rue McClanahan

“Chickens, cows, and pigs in factory farms spend their whole lives in filthy, cramped conditions—only to die a prolonged and painful death. Their bodies are then turned into food products proven to contribute to heart disease and cancer. To eat that is to eat poison.”
- Casey Affleck

“If any kid ever realized what was involved in factory farming they would never touch meat again.I was so moved by the intelligence,sense of fun and personalities of the animals I worked with on Babe that by the end of the film I was a vegetarian.”
- James Cromwell

To see more famous veggie quotes, visit FamousVeggie.com!

– Actor Clint Eastwood in a recent interview. 

“‘Don Cheadle has created extraordinary work in his career as an actor and producer. This honorary award is a gesture of our appreciation for his diligence and determination to produce consistently brilliant work for the film world,’ Dawn Hudson, executive director of Film Independent, who throws the annual fest, said.”

Most recently, Cheadle’s documentary Darfur Now was released on DVD — with a portion of the sales benefiting The Solar Cooker Project for the protection and empowerment of women in war-ravaged Sudan. The organization, Not On Our Watch, that he helped found with other actors Clooney, Pitt, and Damon also donated $500,000 in relief aid to the cyclone-devastated country of Myanmar.

Congrats Don!

via Singersroom

Those Terminator jokes will ever get old.

In a move that surprised Clint Eastwood, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger formally dismissed the legendary actor from the state parks board. The removal comes in the wake of Eastwood’s opposition to a plan to build a toll road through San Onofre State Beach, a park in Orange County that is popular for its surfing and scenery. Throwing some additional drama into the mix, the Governor also dismissed his brother-in-law Bobby Shriver — another individual that opposed the construction plans. From the article,

“‘You’re not going to get people who are interested in state parks who want to build freeways through state parks,’ Eastwood said. ‘So I don’t know what the big surprise was there.’ Several environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Surfrider Foundation and the California State Parks Foundation, said they submitted a letter to state Senate leaders Tuesday requesting a hearing into the oversight of state parks. They based their request on Schwarzenegger’s treatment of the two commissioners, his proposal to close 48 parks because of the state’s fiscal crisis and his support for development in parks.”

Of course, Eastwood’s conservationist ways can sometimes be compromised. Readers will remember his plans last summer to build a golf course in an area of protected forest along the California coastline — with up to 18,000 trees slated to be removed. That proposal was eventually shot down by the California Coastal Commission. Still, his overall record is what counts to most.

“From everything I saw, he was a terrific parks commissioner,” said Peter Douglas, the Coastal Commission’s executive director. “It just happened that when he was calling the shots on that project at Pebble Beach, he wasn’t listening to what we were saying about what the law allows and doesn’t allow. But that’s behind us now.”

via the daily green

“Opponents of the development said sand dunes at the Menie Estate, 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Aberdeen, should be protected as the habitat of rare birds such as Lapwings, Redshanks and Skylarks. The vote is the latest hurdle in Trump’s four-year odyssey to turn a stretch of sand dunes north of Aberdeen into a 1 billion pound (€1.4 billion, US$2.1 billion) golf resort complete with two 18-hole courses, a luxurious 450-bedroom hotel, 950 vacation homes, 36 golf villas and 500 upscale homes costing from 400,000 pounds (€557,000, US$827,000) to more than 1 million pounds (€1.4 million, US$2.1 million) each.”

So how about that? These victories of environment over money are few and far between in today’s age. To say “no” to development of this size in favor of retaining ageless beauty and preserving the ecology of a region is highly commendable. To piss off Trump in the process is even better. Well played, gents. Well played.