Today is Blog Action Day 2009 — and the topic that has more than 9,000 blogs in 150 countries with more than 12 million readers buzzing is climate change. The goal is to help facilitate discussion on the issue and get the world ready for the incredibly important Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December. It is there that world leaders hope to come to an agreement on a new climate treaty as a successor to the Kyoto protocol.

Obviously, our focus is on those in the entertainment industry helping to draw attention to this historic event. With that in mind, we’ve put together those individuals or groups recently involved in pushing for tough greenhouse gas emissions limits — and for a successful outcome in Copenhagen. Check it out below the fold:

1. Cate Blanchett

Blanchett has been involved in promoting tough environmental policies down under in Australia for many years now. Most recently, she appeared in Copenhagen in May of this year at the World Business Summit on Climate Change. The actress addressed business leaders, urging them to decrease their carbon emissions and increase sustainable practices. “Political failure at Copenhagen in December is quite simply unacceptable and this powerful room must play a major role in preventing this failure,” she said. “Australia’s best climate scientists have been warning us that we’ll face many more catastrophic fire days in south-east Australia unless the world acts to dramatically cut greenhouse pollution.” [Read more...]

2. Sting

Though Sting’s personal carbon footprint regularly comes under scrutiny, the famous singer is backing Prince Charles’ Rainforests Project — which seeks to limit deforestation and buy the world time to move to a low-carbon economy. Ahead of the Copenhagen Talks, Sting has lent his iconic “Message in a Bottle” song to the campaign — sending a different kind of SOS to the world. [Watch/Read more...]

3. Hugh Jackman

We knew Hugh Jackman was into green filmmaking, but 2008’s World’s Sexiest Man Alive, surprised even us by opening up NYC Climate Week and urging support for a strong treaty in Copenhagen. “I hope to be a voice for the billion people in developing countries who will be the hardest hit by changing weather patterns, by the droughts and floods that destroy their crops and threaten their food security,” Jackman said in a statement. “Climate Week NYC provides an ideal forum to help underscore the urgency for world leaders to secure and fund an ambitious global climate change deal in Copenhagen that is effective, fair and binding.” [Watch/Read more...]

4. Duran Duran, Milla Jovovich, Melanie Laurent, Others | “Beds Are Burning” Remake Climate Song

As part of the International “TckTckTck” Climate Change Campaign, many celebrities, politicians, and old-school bands came together to record a cover of the classic ’80s hit “Bed are Burning”. The effort, which now includes a petition with over 2 million signatures, is a direct challenge to the nations involved in the Copenhagen talks to come to a fair and binding deal.

5. Don Cheadle

As part of the UN-led 2009 Seal The Deal! campaign, Don Cheadle appears in a series of PSAs urging action this December in Copenhagen. The effort, like those above, is meant to galvanize and rally support for strong action. The official website also includes a petition to sign to present to leaders. [Watch...]

Is it that time again already?

It seems like we were just writing about last year’s Ante Up For Africa — the celebrity-saturated poker tournament co-founded by actor Don Cheadle to help raise some much needed cash for the crisis in Darfur.

This past Thursday, 138 players (including some professionals) joined celebs like Sarah Silverman, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Alexander, Nelly, Cedric the Entertainer, Herschel Walker, Charles Barkley, Dean Cain and Brad Garrett. For the first time, ESPN carried the event — which should shed even more light on this important cause.

From the website,

“Three years ago we founded Ante Up for Africa, a charity to raise money for relief efforts in Darfur through poker events. When we founded the charity we approached Jeffrey Pollack, the Commissioner of the World Series of Poker, who was so enthusiastic about the cause that he jumped in with both feet and had the WSOP partner with us. AUFA became an official WSOP event and our first year we raised $700K. Before Thursday our charity had raised $2.1m for the Darfuri people.”

Check out some photos from the event below:

Not On Our Watch

“I’ve seen first-hand how dire the situation is for Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa. Women are being raped, orphaned children have no protection, and thousands of people are without even the most basic supplies. Every-day survival has become a harrowing task,” said Not On Our Watch board member Matt Damon. “As the situation in Zimbabwe remains unresolved, the international community must stop sitting on the sidelines and instead take action to help those who need it most. Not On Our Watch is proud to support UNICEF’s work in this critical time.”

For more information on the organization, jump here.

Celebrities helped raise more than $80K for Mekhi Phifer’s youth charity, The Vine Group, by participating in the 7th Annual World Poker Tour Invitational last weekend. Stars throwing down dollars included Jon Hamm, Brad Garrett, Don Cheadle, Shanna Moaklar, Nicky Hilton, Rikki Lake, Shannon Elizabeth, and Benji Madden.

One of the shirt/suit/tie ensembles worn by Sean Penn in his Academy Award-winning portrayal of real-life hero Harvey Milk has been auctioned off for $12,500. The money is to benefit benefit both Variety – The Children’s Charity of Southern California and the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School, in New York City. The gentleman that won the auction, activist Tom Gregory, had also previously successfully won two of the shirts famously shown in Brokeback Mountain. I detect a theme here…[Read more...]

Finally, Tony Bennett is auctioning off a one-hour painting lesson for two at his private studio in NYC. How cool would that be? Current bids are just north of $10K with less than 24 hours to go. Estimated value is $25K — for that cash, let’s hope he sings a few too! [Read more...]

Photo credit: PR Photos

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.

Joining George this time was Matt Damon with musician Kid Rock providing the entertainment. Other guests, which paid over $14,000 apiece to be among the 100 in attendance, included Scarlett Johansson, Cindy Crawford, Sarah Ferguson, Bono and Guy Ritchie.

Money from the night went towards Clooney’s Not On Our Watch charity, which he set up with his Ocean’s trilogy co-stars Cheadle, Pitt and Damon. Nice work, guys.

The legitimacy of a charity seems to be on everyone’s mind these days. I’ve been amazed at the responses to the recent post on a Scientology benefit for charity. That conversation may not have been that surprising (I’m not Scientology’s OMG #1 Fan myself!), but when I heard that charities run by Bono — one of my favorite celebs ever– George Clooney, and other famous people might not be as legit as they claim, I was pretty shocked.

Apparently, Bono’s DATA Foundation (now part of One), which works to eliminate poverty and AIDS in Africa, raised $31 million in 2006–but only used $6 million of that for charity. The rest went to transportation, security, and U2 tour tickets. Clooney’s Not on Our Watch (also founded by Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and others), which fights genocide, has some shady dealings with an offshore gambling company. Wyclef Jean, Osi Umenyiora, Tyra Banks, Larry King, Gary Payton, Petra Nemcova, Magic Johnson and Dyan Cannon also seem to have skeletons in their charities’ closets; read more about them here.

So what do you think? Do a few gray areas make a charity all bad? Do any of these charities sound completely illegitimate to you, or do you think they still have redeeming qualities?

There will be six online tournaments in all, featuring celebs such as Don Cheadle, a champion of the cause, Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Shawn Rice, and others. All fees being donated to the cause.

Ante Up For Africa was created to raise public awareness and funds for Sudan-related charities. UltimateBet has been working with them since July, giving players easy options to contribute to the organization using their UltimatePoints. I’m not much of a gambler myself, but with the stakes so high in Darfur, I think I’d like to place a bet.

While in Africa, Hatcher and her daughter spent some quality time with members of the community and visited local schoolchildren. Teri said: ”They loved my daughter. We talked about math. We joked. They would say, ‘What subjects do you like in school? What’s your hardest subject? What do you like? What do you do? What’s your favorite thing to do?’ We talked about sports.”

It’s estimated that more than half of the country’s 31.3 million people are poor, and 7.5 million of the poor live in extreme poverty. A trip to kenya.amref.org told me that $10 dollars a month can pay for a treated mosquito net that could save the life of a child under five, $150 dollars will rehabilitate one local village and reduce cases of water borne diseases, and that $300 dollars can send a specialist to a rural hospital for one week who perform 10-15 surgeries and treat many patients as well as train local staff. Wow!

To find out more about how you can get involved in Kenya, visit kenya.amref.org

via: starpulse.com

“‘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