Hollywood’s Phony Environmentalists - California Globe

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Aboard this private jet, actor Chris Evans sported a shirt sold to raise funds for the environmental charity The Solutions Project. (Twitter)

On February 8, 2021 more than 200 individuals—mostly actors and other Hollywood socialites—penned an open letter praising President Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline XL. It’s main goal however was to demand further environmental action to combat climate change. This letter petitioned the Biden administration to also cancel the Dakota Access Pipeline, “DAPL”. The actors who signed include Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Fonda, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Cher, Kerry Washington and Robert Downey Jr.

In their letter, the group of star-studded environmental activists pressure the President, “We urge you to remedy this historic injustice and direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately shut down the illegal Dakota Access Pipeline while the Environmental Impact Statement process is conducted… Additionally, the U.S. Army Corps must ensure a robust environmental review with significant tribal consultation, tribal consent, and a thorough risk analysis.” For now, the DAPL continues to operate while under federal review.

Fast-forward to today.

This week President Joe Biden met with Russian President Vladmir Putin during the G7 summit. The meeting was panned by many American outlets, including several that are usually friendly to the President, and a portion of that disappointment stems from Biden’s decision to lift sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. This pipeline, heavily sanctioned under the Trump Administration, is set to transport oil into Germany as soon as tomorrow.

With the sanctions lifted on Russia, the pipeline will now be fully operational and allow oil to be sent from the Baltics into Europe and the Middle East, handing Russia an economic boom and geopolitical influence in the region. The ramifications of this action will not only change the power dynamics in Europe, Asia and the Eastern world at large, but could also result in consequences for the environment as well.

Where’s Jane Fonda?

One might expect these same Hollywood stars to be clutching their pearls in disbelief that President Biden would allow such an environmental atrocity to occur. Not so. Our reporting has failed to unearth a single instance of a celebrity who condemned Keystone publicly condemning Nord Stream.

This would seem like the perfect opportunity for Jane Fonda to be arrested again for protesting over environmental concerns. The actress was arrested five times in 2019 for protesting climate change causes in D.C. The starlet was quoted saying, “”I will be on the Capitol every Friday, rain or shine, inspired and emboldened by the incredible movement our youth have created.” She has not been seen in the Capitol since Biden was inaugurated. After signing the letter thanking Biden for killing Keystone—and its thousands of American jobs —she has been silent on Biden’s actions with Putin.

Mark Ruffalo at the premier of Infinitely Polar Bear, June 2015. (Photo by Ken Kurson for California Globe)

This should not surprise anyone who is paying attention. These are the same people who fly around the world on private jets while posting to social media about sustainability. Chris Evans, one of the letters signatories is a perfect example. Douglas Karr brought tweeted a picture of Evans on private jet sporting a climate change t-shirt in one of the worst self-owns in social media history. Captain America has seemingly been forgiven by his fandom even though this mode of travel is 40 times less fuel efficient than flying commercial.

Other actors who have been publicly shamed in years past yet continue their environmentally irresponsible ways include Ruffalo, Cher and DiCaprio, who owns four homes, flies privately and “rented the fifth biggest yacht in the world from an oil billionaire.”

Do the famous even know what they believe about the environment and climate change? Will these same people demand a “Environmental Impact Statement and a thorough risk analysis” on Nord Stream 2? Will they ask the President to pressure the EU for such an analysis? My request to Chris Evans for comment was ignored.

Hollywood appears ignorant that environmental concerns exist outside the continental United States.

Calling out the Biden administration on its inconsistent environmental policy would bolster the credibility of these beautiful people and make it at least arguable that they care about the issue more than about scoring safe political points. Ironically, some in Hollywood painted the President Trump as “Putin’s Puppet” yet remain eerily quiet on the early Father’s Day gift President Biden handed Putin in Geneva this week. For Hollywood to remain relevant in the minds of the American ethos, it might want to educate itself on the issues it claims to hold near and dear.

Joel Brizzee covers the Hollywood Hypocrisy beat for California Globe. He is a former financial services director and lives in Santa Monica. He graduated from the University of Oregon as a Religious Studies major with an emphasis in Christian theology.