Today’s Celebrity Nature Nerd ~ Robert Redford

That’s right. I’m calling Robert Redford a nature nerd. And if he wants to call me and complain about it, I’ll keep my phone lines open!

Seriously, few celebrities have done as much for environmental awareness as Robert Redford. And unlike some celebrities who may have jumped on the bandwagon recently just because it’s so eco-chic, Redford works to protect the environment because of the personal connection that he feels for the wilderness. Redford sees his time in nature as: “a release from chaos and confinement, an incredible liftoff.”

Redford has been a noted environmentalist since the early 1970s when he was a founding member of the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and lobbied heavily for the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. As far back as 1975, he produced short films and documentaries promoting solar power. Redford remains a trustee of NRDC; the organization recently named its new Santa Monica, Calif., office building after him -- it is "the greenest building in America" according to the U.S. Green Building Council. For decades, Redford also has supported pro-environment political candidates, mostly at state and local levels. Source

He is the recipient of numerous awards for his work in the environmental and arts arenas as well as his advocacy on behalf of Native Americans. These include the 1987 United Nations Global 500 Award; the 1989 Audubon Medal; the 1993 Earth Day International Award; the 1994 Nature Conservancy Award and others. Source

Without Redford there would be no Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, a 1.7-million-acre (7,571 sq km) expanse of land that the star, among others, fought to keep out of commercial hands from 1975 until 1996, when President Clinton effectively closed it to development. Source

More great information about Robert Redford can be found in this great article by Amanda Griscom Little (a well-known nature nerd in her own right) written for Mother Earth News

You can read Redford's blog posts on the Huffington Post, onearth, and the Sundance Channel

Technorati Tags: Nature nerd,Robert Redford,environment,environmentalist,Natural Resources Defense Council,NRDC,Audubon medal,Grand staircase,Huffington Post,Sundance,Sundance Channel