Pierce was honored for his charity work last Friday at the second annual Jane Goodall Institute Global Leadership Awards Celebration, where he, along with his wife Keely Shay, were presented with the Responsible Activism in Media and Entertainment award. Pierce been a part of the institute’s Roots + Shoots global environmental youth program since it came into being, and, of course, was honored to receive the award.

He credited his wife with making him more environmentally focused, saying, “I have a wonderful wife in Keely, who is very versed in the world of green. This is a partnership now of 16 years and she has educated me on the environment and how to bring up children, whether it’s the food they eat or the food that we grow at home in Hawaii — clean water, good vegetables, and recycling.”

Awww. All that mushy talk just makes me love him more!

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Anyway, she might play a character I love to hate on TV, but in real life, she sounds like somebody I’d like hanging out with. She’s a big believer in doing what you can — whatever you can — for the environment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean giving your home a complete green makeover or changing your whole life around. The little things add up, too.

Alison said, “People get caught up in saving the world. But I think the little things are just as important. We’re big on recycling at my house. My son Ben is three and understands the concept of recycling … We turn the lights out when we leave a room. Then there’s just taking off your shoes when you go in a room so you don’t have to vacuum as much or use as many cleaning products.”

She doesn’t stop there, giving some more good advice, “Instead of using cleaning agents, you can mix water with vinegar and clean with that. It saves money, helps the environment because you don’t use plastic bottles, and it helps your baby stay healthy.”

Alison is absolutely right — these things do make a difference, especially when everyone does them. Lately, Days of Our Lives has taken an eco-friendly turn — I wonder how much she had to do with that!

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The goal of the campaign, based in Abuja, Nigeria, is to plant a tree for each baby born in the region’s hospital. Not only do they hope to give these children a better future by doing so, but also to promote awareness of environmental issues the region faces, specifically the need to find sustainable energy solutions.

The supermodel not only managed to keep her temper in check — she also managed to stay completely clean, and that’s not easy for someone who comes to a tree-planting dressed in white!

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The event took place at Washington’s Smithsonian National Zoo and introduced the Tiger Conservation Initiative, which aims to halt the killing and illegal trade of tiger skins, meat, and other body parts that some traditional Asian medicines still use. It will bring scientists and governments together to fight for these big cats, whose numbers have shrunk from over 100,000 a century ago to their current number of under 4,000.

Harrison’s goal in being there was to celebrate and lend support to the World Bank’s plan, saying, “By committing to help wild tigers, the World Bank is sounding its intention to be a global leader in biodiversity conservation.” Robert’s reason for coming was similar — he had always thought that tigers “might be the single most beautiful animal in the world,” and it boggled his mind that people just continue killing them as their numbers dwindle.

Bo Derek, Condoleezza Rice’s Special Envoy for Wildlife Trafficking, intends to focus on public awareness of the problem, starting with herself, saying “It was very embarrassing for me to find out that the U.S. is number two in consuming endangered wildlife.”

The initiative will work to end poaching in 13 countries: Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Indonesia, Russia and Vietnam. President of World Bank, Robert Zoellick said,”This is a problem that cannot be handled by individual nations alone. It requires an alliance of strong local commitment backed by deep international support.” Kudos to the actors (and everyone else who attended the launch) for getting involved for these beautiful animals.

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The former 007 has been a proponent of environmental action for over 10 years, and he and his wife have set up a trust to donate to environmental organizations. Not only has he done this and encouraged the public to donate what they can, but he has been a pretty hefty contributer himself, personally reaching the one million dollar donation mark. You’ve got to love a man who has no problem supporting the causes he’s passionate about by digging into his own pockets.

Pierce encourages his fans and fellow environmental activists to donate their money to causes that will offset carbon emissions by planting trees as well as paying carbon tax when traveling in environmentally sensitive areas. But the environment isn’t the only cause that gets this leading man to take action. He’s been a supporter of breast cancer research and replaced a playground near his home in Hawaii — a good guy through and through.

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Recently, Harrison made a move that surprised many — the tough, gruff, manly man took off his shirt on Access Hollywood and got his chest waxed to highlight deforestation. By stripping down and getting his chest waxed on TV, he hoped to shock people into realizing the pain involved in deforestation.

The 65-year-old is certainly bringing attention to the problem of deforestation as well as to all the other good works he does, including flying on search and rescue missions to find stranded tourists in Jackson. If he hadn’t already been my hero before, he would be now!

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Garbage trucks are major polluters, but there’s no way we can take them off the road. According to Energy Vision, which is the non-profit behind the new trucks, if half the garbage trucks in NYC were switched to natural gas, “more than 16,000 tons of pollutants would be eliminated a year, while reliance on a clean domestic fuel would eliminate the need for 23 million gallons a year of petroleum-based diesel fuel, which is getting more expensive by the day and relies on imported oil.”

So, what does Blythe have to do with this? Well, the stunning actress and mother of Gwyneth Paltrow has long taken an interest in environmental causes, promoting recycling and conservation for the past 30 years. So, while garbage trucks might not be as sexy as, say, designing a reusable water bottle, Blythe knows that her appearance at their unveiling will bring much needed media exposure to the cause.

I know I gave you a bunch of stats about the fuel saved and pollution eliminated by the use of the new trucks, but you might be wondering exactly what that means for New Yorkers. Eliminating (or reducing) the pollution emitted into the air by replacing just 38 garbage trucks with the new natural gas powered trucks will “spare New Yorkers the health risks, involving asthma, other respiratory illnesses and cancers associated with more than 124 tons a year of airborne particulates (soot) and smog-forming nitrogen oxides.” Just 38 natural gas trucks can do that much? Let’s hope that other cities take a cue and get their own natural gas powered garbage trucks.

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Nye’s new program will focus on showing people “what happens to everyday things before and after we consume them.” This will reveal the generally unknown and unintended consequences of many items we all take for granted, and as Nye investigates the life cycle of these products, he’ll also show us some simple changes we can all make to help reduce these consequences and benefit the environment.

The Science Guy still rides his bike to work and encourages young scientists to always clean up after themselves. His motto is “Leave the world better than you found it. Sometimes you gotta pick up somebody else’s trash.”

It seems to me that this new show is a great way for him to encourage people all over, young and old, to follow his example and work to make the world a better place, one cool science experiment at a time.

Photo courtesy of billnye.com

To go along with the period theme, Clooney and Zellweger opted to take a promotional whistle-stop train tour. Dressed in period clothing (and looking fabulous, of course), the actors got “all aboard” in Maysville, Kentucky (near Gorgeous George’s hometown) and have plans to hit premieres in Salisbury, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina.

The pair also made a stop in Duluth, Minnesota, where the movie is set (but wasn’t filmed). They “arrived” by train, but something tells me they didn’t take the train all the way from Duluth to Maysville. I doubt they’ll actually be traveling by train to all their locations in the South, either.

Even though I know their real point is to be authentic to the period, I can’t help but love the fact that they’re arriving by a mass transportation system. Trains might not be the romantic traveler’s choice as it was in days gone by, but it’s still certainly functional, and in many cases a more eco-friendly alternative. Perhaps seeing Clooney and Zellweger will inspire some travelers this summer to hop aboard their local locomotive.

Photo courtesy of USA Today/Jim Mone, AP

Britney recently guest starred on the show How I Met Your Mother — a move that garnered a lot of attention (not that Britney does anything these days that doesn’t cause a media frenzy). The world was ready to see the erstwhile pop star take a positive step in her life. Not only did she play her part on the show and receive glowing praise from her co-stars, who said she was “professional” and “funny,” but she put six pieces of clothing she wore on the set up for auction following Monday night’s airing.

Proceeds from the sale of the items will go to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group based out of New York City. If your interested in placing a bid (or just curious to see what’s there), you can check out the auction here, but hurry — the auction ends March 31!

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