There’s this great book by Helen Fielding called Cause Celeb.  It’s all about this publicist who finds herself on a humanitarian mission to African, but when a massive famine strikes, the publicist needs return to London to raise money quickly.  Every celebrity in town is looking for an opportunity to change their image, attach themselves to a cause, pose with the poor little African refugees…it is a pretty good skewering of celebrity activism.  That isn’t to say there aren’t celebrity activists that are truly activists.   People just like you and me with a little more fame and a little more money that care about the planet, people, the country and our world.  I’m going to be out looking for them, here’s the first.

You probably know Daryl Hannah best as a mermaid with a heart of gold lost in the big apple in Splash, or maybe as a one eyed assassin in Kill Bill – but Daryl Hannah has taken on another role since her rise to fame in the late 1980s.  Eco-activist.  She lives a truly sustainable lifestyle.

And she’s no photo-op celebrity activist, she practices what she preaches.  She lives on a farm in the Rockies – off the grid with a bio-diesel back up generator, a bio-diesel truck and tractor, her car runs on bio-diesel fuel, and she is cultivating an organic garden.

Her efforts are not only focused on herself.  In 2006 Hannah spent three weeks 40 feet above ground in a walnut tree in South Central Los Angeles to try to prevent the bulldozing of the nations largest urban farm. She discovered the farm while shooting footage for her video blog which is hosted on her website.  Hannah, along with 40 other protesters, was arrested as she tried to resist removal.  It took police officers nearly 8 hours to clear the farm of resisters.

“As I was coming down from the tree, I looked around and what really came to me was this neighborhood is filled with liquor stores, warehouses and concrete. Every mother deserves a place to grow healthy food and a green place for children to play. Here in South Central LA, there is a dire need. I’m very sad today that Mr. Horowitz has broken his word. He said if the community of south Central could raise $16 million, he would sell us the land. We did it. It was a miracle, and that’s why I raised my arm when I was coming down from the tree. We did our part. We stood up and did the impossible, a group of farmers, a few celebrities, and hundreds of people who care. Now he’s broken his word…”            

In addition to living a sustainable lifestyle and championing the causes of others, Hannah maintains and informative website about living an eco-friendly lifestyle.  The site is complete with a video blog that is both entertaining and educational, articles, tips, an online store, environmental alerts and a link to an online auction of the world’s only hemp guitar and her bio-diesel El Camino.  The above video is from the site.  Check it out.