Photo Stuart Ramson / PictureGroup via AP IMAGES
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A lot of celebrities are competing for green attention these days, so much so that they're wearing out my patience with the word green, especially when it's for the image and not the substance behind it. But some are legit, and should be recognized for it.
This Sunday, Ed Norton will run the New York City Marathon alongside three men from Kenya's Maasai tribe he met when he first visited the country years ago. He was encouraged by their approach to land preservation in a region where many people are struggling to maintain their traditional lifestyles, and where deforestation and drought, soil erosion and overgrazing are all serious and increasing threats. When he encountered the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, he was happy to learn that whereas before, killing a lion was a rite of passage to becoming a Maasai warrior, this conservation group was now working to protect the animals. (Killing a lion is now illegal—but in many cases, preservation of traditional ways of life is often the argument for continuing practices that conservationists advocate are destroying the environment.)
The way to get beyond the tradition-modernism conflict is to look at the bigger picture, to transcend the simplistic either-or dialogue and to evaluate what's good for the land and the people and wildlife living on it. Norton gets it: "That's the kind of evolution I'm talking about—people who are maintaining a lot about who they've been, but making certain key choices to become stewards of this landscape instead of just users of it."
Running for a cause
So on Sunday, about 30 others will join Norton, his three Maasai friends, including Samson Parashina, who said, "I think the common interest that connects us all ... (is that) you find everybody plays a role in protecting the environment."
As of Monday, they had raised $500,000, and while I'm not a believer in aid as a long-term approach to development, there's something to be said for running in solidarity with people representing a cause you believe in, and raising money to support an effort that can't wait for years to come.
Check out the Focus Earth video of Ed Norton running for a cause. Watch Focus Earth Episode: That's Green Entertainment
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