Who is the brightest green celebrity in the world today? A new UK award has been created to celebrate the famous faces known around the world who strive to go green and live in ways that are eco-friendly every day.
The sixth International Green Awards this year will introduce the Best Green International Celebrity Award, to be given November 24, 2011, at the National History Museum in London, England.
The event begins at 7 p.m. Voting began on September 1, and the shortlist has been narrowed to Gisele Bundchen, a supermodel from Brazil, Miguel Bose, a musician and actor from Spain, and Sir Paul McCartney, a musician of The Beatles fame from the UK.
The shortlist of international nominees beat out earlier nominees, including U.S. favorites Leonardo DiCaprio, Hollywood’s highest paid actor, actress Cameron Diaz, named by Vogue as the Queen of Green, and actor Don Cheadle. Other nominees represented efforts at sustainability, environmental protection, and other green projects in France, Japan, Mexico, China, India, and the United Arab Emirates, among other nations.
The winner of this inaugural award will be named an international green media ambassador, according to GreenAwards.com, the title carrying with it the responsibility of continuing the outstanding use of media to promote global green issues including environmental preservation and sustainable growth and development. The shortlist of nominees for Best Green International Celebrity Award have already worked extensively with groups like the United Nations Environment Programme and Oxfam International.
The event held in London will be themed around rainforest issues to coincide with the United Nations International Year of the Forest. The nominees selected for the shortlist were chosen for the examples they have set rather than for their contributions of time or money to charitable organizations that promote green living.
Gisele Bundchen of Brazil remarked about her nomination, “I am blessed to have grown up in a family that embraced the importance of nature and community coexisting in harmony. My career in the public eye has given me the opportunity to raise awareness about important socio-environmental causes in the hope of promoting a more conscious relationship with our environment.”
GREEN INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY STATS
Gisele Bundchen supports the United Nations Environment Programme, but also has designed a limited edition necklace, the proceeds of which went to support St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and a portion of proceeds from a line of sandals bearing her name go to protect Amazon rainforest water sources. She supports several other Brazilian projects as well.
Miguel Bose, of Spain, is one of several green celebrity singers who participated on a 2010 release of “Gracias a la Vida” (“Thanks to Life”), a charity song originally penned by Chilean folklorist Violeta Parra in 1966, and the profits from sales on iTunes went to Habitat for Humanity. He also works with ALAS, a group of Latino artists helping with social problems of children in Latin America, and Oceana, to protect and restore the world’s oceans.
Sir Paul McCartney is active with No More Landmines, and he is a Patron of the Vegetarian Society and Adopt-a-Landmine, having donated one million dollars earned for playing a personal concert for the wife of a wealthy banker to the latter cause. He has performed for the charity single Band Aid, and for Live Aid. He also hosted PETA’s “Party of the Century” in 1999. He also launched a Meat-free Monday campaign in 2009, promoting the reduction of meat-eating for personal health and the health of the planet.
Which of these green celebrities is your favorite? Let readers know in the comments section below.