Look To The Stars News: Greenpeace

Whatever It Takes For Christmas

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:00:00 -0000

{Whatever It Takes} – the charity that offers artworks and clothing designed by celebrities – have some great gift ideas for the coming holiday season.

The charity – which raises money for all sorts of charities, such as Adopt-A-Minefield, Anti-Slavery International, Breast Cancer Campaign, CARE, Children of the Andes, Children’s Medical Research Institute, Christian Children’s Fund, City at Peace, Comic Relief, Dreams Can Be Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Greenpeace and many more – is offering T-shirts designed by the Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party; rings designed by Robbie Williams, Ozzy Osbourne and Snoop Dogg mouse pads from George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, and Coldplay bed linen from Joss Stone and a huge selection of plates and mugs designed by Bob Geldof, Paul McCartney, Ewan McGregor and many others.

To get your hands on one of these unique items – which would make the perfect gift – or to see the entire range, visit the Whatever It Takes website.

Look To The Stars Asks Melora Hardin

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:58:03 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

You probably know her as Jan from NBC’s The Office, but Melora Hardin’s face is one that has been gracing our television screens for years. A trained dancer, she is a veteran of all the shows we used to love – The Love Boat, Diff’rent Strokes, Little House on the Prairie, Magnum PI, Friends, Monk … the list could go on and on. And with big screen appearances in films such as Reckless Kelly, The Hot Chick, Absolute Power, Thank You For Smoking, and 27 Dresses, it is almost certain that most people have seen her face somewhere.

As if television and film acting was not enough, Hardin recently made her feature film directorial debut with You, and has released two CDs of her original vocal stylings – a talent that will see her perform the role of Fantine in Les Miserables at the Hollywood Bowl in August. This will be followed by the release of her latest movie, Seventeen, – alongside Zac Efron (High School Musical) and Matthew Perry (Friends) – in October.

With the new series of The Office set to debut in America on April 10, Melora found a few minutes to talk to Look To The Stars about how people can make the world a better place.

Hi Melora. A few weeks ago you went to the bebe Luncheon and Fashion Show in LA, which was a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Tell us a little about the day and what attracted you to it.

I found out about the Make-A-Wish Foundation many, many years ago. I started acting professionally when I was 6 years old, and when I was about 12 my close friend’s mother was volunteering for Make-A-Wish. I had appeared on some show at that time that one of these kids really loved, so I went to the hospital and met this kid about my own age, shook their hand, signed a picture. And I was so moved by that. I felt that I could do something – I could use the celebrity that I have to give back as much as I can.

With the bebe event, Manny [Mashouf] invited me – he’s a really lovely guy – and so I thought it would be a fun day. I offered my support to both him and Make-A-Wish. I had great fun. Lots of yummy food and lots of nice people, and they gave away some great prizes and people won some good things. I think Make-A-Wish is a wonderful charity.

Where do you find your own inspiration to help others?

I feel like we’re all equal, and that some of us are luckier than others – born into situations with more opportunities, more education, more love, more culture, and all those things. But that doesn’t make anyone more important, just because they’ve been born into it. So I really do feel like everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and I really do try to treat people that way. I’m often shocked when people are bad. But I think there are very few really bad people in the world. I’d say most of the people in this world are good people who do the best they can. Unfortunately, the few really bad people can affect the way we see things. So I guess it’s really trying to live and let live.

What would you say to someone who wants to help a cause but doesn’t know where to start?

I would say the first thing is the internet, that is one of the greatest tools we have in our time. Now you can go online and find anything from anywhere across the world, if you try hard enough and keep on searching. And if you don’t have access to the internet, then you can just ask – if you need something, if you’re looking for something, just ask where ever you can. If it’s the internet, great, if it’s friends and family, then start there, then branch out and just go as wide as you can until you can find your way.

How would a charity attract your attention?

Well firstly and obviously I would have to feel aligned with whatever their message is, and then secondly I would want to feel that whatever the money is that they were getting is really going towards the cause, and not just creating more and more paper to send out to people. If they send that out to everybody, then that’s thousands of dollars and hours of time, and thousands and thousands of trees. To me it’s such a waste, and it’s not a great use of money. So when I look at charities that are really successful, like Greenpeace or Make-A-Wish, they’re really using the funds that they’re gathering to do what all of their supporters want them to do. So I would say that would be a very high priority for me.

If you could start a charity, what would it be?

I’ve often said that I wish every graduate from high school would be handed a Euro Pass to go round Europe – that’s what I did when I graduated high school. I traveled around Europe for three months by myself. It was one of the most wonderful and balancing experiences, and I think that if you get out of your own backyard and see the world a little bit, you realize that there are good people everywhere. The conflicts that happen in our world are really based on politics, they’re not based on the things that everybody believes they are based on. I feel that people should get on a plane and fly somewhere, live somewhere, and have to deal with the way the cultures differ, to make friends and start to have compassion and empathy for the different ways of doing and being. That’s one of the greatest gifts you can give a young person, and I really wish there was such a program.

I just think we would have a much better chance of peace if people got the chance to see the world and spend a little time traveling. Even if it’s the only time they ever do it in their whole lives. I think it’s appalling to me that we have a president who never traveled out of this country until he was elected. I don’t know how you can possibly run a country when you haven’t seen other countries and the way they live their lives. You don’t get a sense of that from television. You just don’t.

That would be a charity I would be really interested in if there was such a thing, where young people had the opportunity to see the world and learn a little about other cultures by being immersed in it.

Are there any other charities or causes you support that you think need help?

I’m on the Board of Directors for Victoria Rowell’s Foster Children Positive Plan, which brings fine arts to foster children. It means that if a foster child would like ballet lessons, we get them their lessons and whatever they need. I have found that it really reaps benefits. Victoria Rowell is a soap actress here and was a foster child. She had a great foster family that put her into ballet, and from there she became a successful actress. I find that things like that can really change someone’s life.

What do you think are the biggest problems facing the world today, and how can one person make a difference and help solve them?

I think we are a consumer-driven society, and that really affects all of us. People really don’t know much about it. I just got emailed a video called The Story of Stuff. It’s really wonderful and very informative about where our “stuff” comes from, how it becomes our stuff, and then where it goes. And how that affects the environment to a really drastic and horrible degree. You know, when you look at our stuff today as opposed to the 1930s, things were made to last back then. Now things are made to break, so that you have to buy more. And its really so unfortunate for our planet. The more things we make, the more the planet suffers. It’s really fascinating, and I would encourage everybody to have a look at that video, because it really taught me a lot.

I think there are a lot of simple things people can do. You know, yesterday I was at Whole Foods buying my groceries, and I bought seven cloth bags that from now on I’m going to take my groceries home in and keep using them every time. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time, and finally I said this is something I can do.

The environment is really a serious issue, and it really doesn’t take that much to make a difference. I would just say that people should do whatever they can do – it’s good not to litter, it’s good not to pollute, it’s good to recycle when you can.

Then there are food issues.

In our country, we have more childhood diabetes now than we have had ever before. And that’s because everything is packaged with sugar. So when someone thinks they are giving their child a slice of bread, they are actually giving their child a slice of bread that has sugar in it. Everything that they’re eating has sugar in it. Then we end up putting kids on anti-hyperactive drugs instead of adjusting their diet and realizing that sugar is a drug. I have a real issue with sugar because I really see how it changes my kids’ personalities, and it’s a really tough one because at every single party they go to there’s sugar, it’s just constant sugar for kids. I’m sure it’s different in different parts of the world, where sugar isn’t quite so available or common. But in Western culture it’s a problem, and I’m concerned about that because I do have young kids.

Can you give our readers a final message on how they can make the world a better place?

You have to be aware and conscious. I understand it’s hard, it’s easier to slide through life and pick up what’s there. But it starts with just one person. The more conscious the person can become the better. Whatever they feel they can wrap their brain around and take on and feel responsible for, the world will become a better place.

Thanks for your time, Melora.

Elissa Sursara's Comfort in Charity

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:27:52 -0000

Written by Charles Alleckman

Young actress Elissa Sursara is mourning the death of a close friend this week, following the passing of actor Heath Ledger.

The starlet, whose charitable campaigns include Greenpeace International’s Save The Whales and The Great Ape Project, has not yet released a public statement to the media regarding the tragic loss. Sources reveal her plans to travel to Africa with a non-profit environmental group will not be canceled – according to the group’s travel documents, the trip was to be taken with Ledger.

“She’s been struck down by this loss,” revealed a friend of the actress. “Someone she loved, and who loved her, has left this earth in such a sudden and uncertain fashion – it’s a hard thing for anybody to come to terms with. Elissa has been through a lot in her life, but she is not emotionally strong. She is a sensitive and passionate person, and her best friend will be sadly missed. Elissa has no plans to postpone her work or her charity work – if anything, pushing on will help her to move on, something Heath would have wanted for her.”

According to reports, Ledger had been the one to nickname Sursara ‘Ocean Eyes’, a term now widely attached to the star’s name, in reference to her striking blue eyes.

The actress’ planned visits to Africa to promote environmental awareness are scheduled to take place in May 2008.

Eliska Sursova: Saving stolen animals in Southern Africa

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:12:17 -0000

Written by Charles Alleckman

In the midst of a rumored break-up with boyfriend and Australian footballer Chris Knights, 19-year-old model-esque actress Eliska Sursova appears to be holding down the fort the way all Hollywood’s finest activists do – by going to Namibia to save the elephants of course.

Taking some time off from her busy schedule and after wraping up filming on her first Public Service Announcment for Greenpeace alongside actor Milo Ventimiglia, Eliska travelled to southern Africa with fifteen members of a non-profit organization to protest the poaching of exotic animals in the Republic of Namibia and spoke out against the exotic animal trade, all while helping to build much needed water holds for African elephants.

“Africa is home to some of the world’s most beautiful creatures and their biggest predator is man. We steal them, abuse them, kill them… all for the benefit of entertainment and luxury,” says the actress whose busy activist schedule sees her campaigning for animal welfare and environmental organizations like World Society for the Protection of Animals, Wildlife Warriors Worldwide and PETA.

Spending an extended 39 days (from the planned 28) in Namibia, the Hollywood phenomenon assisted multiple welfare societies in their quest to shut down the exotic animal black market, a trade in which tigers, bears, birds and reptiles are trapped and sold illegally to international customers. “These animals don’t belong in bedrooms or in cages in your yard. It’s their natural instinct to run, hunt, interact and reproduce.”

On her return home to New York City this week, the exhausted actress recalled moments where she felt immense failure. “Anyone that decides to do this kind of thing needs to be mentally prepared to find or witness things that will haunt them for the rest of their life. You feel such a desire to beat the bad guys that you don’t tend to think about that side of things until you’re there and it’s all around you. It does make you more determined to end the suffering, but you spend most of the night crying into someone else’s lap.”

Eliska admits that, despite her sizzling movie-star career, “there is nothing in this world that will feel as good as helping to make a difference. There are issues, issue after issue and it’s up to us, every day regular people to figure it out. To know that because of you, there are some animals still roaming Africa instead of sitting alone in a cage… I can’t even describe that feeling.”

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