WASHINGTON — Academy award-nominated actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo said celebrities “don’t have to give up” the lives they have “right now” to fight climate change because they will embrace technology that doesn’t burn fossil fuels as soon as it’s fully developed.
Youth climate activist Greta Thunberg has been traveling to speaking engagements by boat to avoid the carbon emissions from air travel. Ruffalo was asked if celebrities should follow Thunberg’s lead.
“It’s tough for celebrities because we’re on a schedule but there is new technology that won’t be burning fossil fuels that’s in development and I promise you as soon as that happens everyone will be on it. I don’t fly privately unless it’s with a whole group of people and I’m working,” Ruffalo said after speaking at a press conference with lawmakers announcing the “Fight Forever Chemicals” campaign.
“I’m conscious that there’s meetings I could do by Skype that I would normally do in LA. I live in New York. And so every little bit counts and I think, in time, we can make these changes. We have the technology to do it but we don’t have to give up the lives that we have right now, I think, to do it. Greta is a symbol and I think she inspires us all and I know that people are flying less because of her and that’s a good thing for us all,” he added.
Ruffalo stars in a new film titled Dark Waters about environmental attorney Rob Bilott’s legal battle with the large chemical corporation DuPont. The film opens in theaters on November 22.
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