Photo Credit: Freddie Baez/startraksphoto.com
The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder (Damon) — who was just namedthe Huffington Post’s “Green” Game Changer of 2011 — recently spoke toEcorazzi about the inspiration for his philanthropic work: his hometown.
Mr. Smolderhotter, a Louisiana native, pegs his environmentally conscious father as the person who taught him how to maintain the balance between living well and taking care of the planet. ” I grew up on the Gulf Coast, and my father’s family were these French Cajun people from the bayou and my mother’s family were these half-Irish, half-Choctaw Indian farmers. So on all sides, it was about an agrarian lifestyle. The Gulf Coast is a pretty insanely delicate ecosystem, so my father made sure I understood it. You never littered, you always turned lights off,” he explains.
But Ian points out it wasn’t until he was away from his roots — while shooting Lost in Hawaii — that he realized the real impact he could have on the ecosystem.
Mr. Smolderhotter, a Louisiana native, pegs his environmentally conscious father as the person who taught him how to maintain the balance between living well and taking care of the planet. ” I grew up on the Gulf Coast, and my father’s family were these French Cajun people from the bayou and my mother’s family were these half-Irish, half-Choctaw Indian farmers. So on all sides, it was about an agrarian lifestyle. The Gulf Coast is a pretty insanely delicate ecosystem, so my father made sure I understood it. You never littered, you always turned lights off,” he explains.
But Ian points out it wasn’t until he was away from his roots — while shooting Lost in Hawaii — that he realized the real impact he could have on the ecosystem.
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“I remember being out in Hawaii and driving to work one beautiful morning, and I realized that I had all these amazing aspirations for the climate and for the environment, but I was driving this gas-guzzling SUV. I called my business manager and said, ‘You know what? I gotta get rid of this thing.’ And I did, when I came back to L.A.,” says Ian.
While trading in his wheels was a good first step, Ian said it was the BP oil spill devastating the Gulf in 2010 that really motivated him to change things on a bigger level. Enter the creation of Ian’s own organization, theIan Somerhalder Foundation, which he launched in November 2010.
Since then, Ian’s foundation has conserved acres of rain forest and even saved some sled dogs, though Ian pinpoints social media as the reason the ISF has been so successful. “Whoever invented Twitter, I just want to kiss them,” he said.
While trading in his wheels was a good first step, Ian said it was the BP oil spill devastating the Gulf in 2010 that really motivated him to change things on a bigger level. Enter the creation of Ian’s own organization, theIan Somerhalder Foundation, which he launched in November 2010.
Since then, Ian’s foundation has conserved acres of rain forest and even saved some sled dogs, though Ian pinpoints social media as the reason the ISF has been so successful. “Whoever invented Twitter, I just want to kiss them,” he said.
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