She is known for playing passionate women who fight for their

reAL-Life
eCo-wArrior
She is known for playing passionate women who fight for their chosen cause, but in real
life, Hollywood actress Sigourney Weaver is equally relentless in her work as a zoologist
and conservationist. From saving the gorillas to protecting our oceans, the actress is
devoted to bringing about real change.
I
t is not unusual for actors to temporarily “become” the
person whom they are portraying, but when Hollywood
star Sigourney Weaver took on the role of murdered primatologist Dian Fossey, it launched the actress on a lifelong
conservation mission that has continued long since the cameras
stopped rolling. Twenty-eight years later, her environmental
endeavors have gone beyond advocating for the protection
of the mountain gorillas, though she still serves as Honorary
Chairperson of the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund International.
She is now also committed to raising awareness about the
threats faced by marine wildlife and empowering women in
extreme poverty through the nonprofit organization Trickle Up.
“After spending so much time with the mountain gorillas in
Rwanda and playing Dian, I felt that I had been given a gift.
It’s appropriate that I try to do whatever I can to help protect
them,” explains Weaver, describing how her environmental
crusade began. The 1988 drama tells the true story of Dian
Fossey, a naturalist who worked in Rwanda with mountain
gorillas. Prior to her work in the Virunga Mountains, Fossey
had spent time in the Congo studying the primates. Having
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become frustrated at her inability to get close to them, she
eventually used her experience of working as an occupational
therapist with autistic children, discovering that when she
mimicked the primates and became submissive, they would
respond better to her. By the time she began her work in
Rwanda in 1967 and founded the Karisoke Research Centre,
Fossey was entirely devoted to protecting the animals and was
horrified by the practice of poaching in the area, despite it
being illegal. Over the next 18 years, Fossey would help arrest
several poachers, who went on to serve lengthy jail sentences.
She even founded her own poaching patrols, and in 1978
tried to prevent two infant gorillas, Coco and Pucker, from
being exported to a zoo in Cologne, Germany. Naturally, her
incredible efforts caused tension among the local gangs and
poachers, and in 1985 (aged 53) Fossey was found bludgeoned
to death in her cabin on the outskirts of the camp.
The story of Dian Fossey is so extraordinary that little embellishment was required. Even her relationship with National
Geographic photographer Bob Campbell was based on fact.
Weaver was dedicated to bringing to life the tale of the woman
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who essentially saved these mountain gorillas from extinction at the cost of her own life, even if, at times, the actress
admits she felt utterly out of her comfort zone. “The truth is,”
she explains, “I didn’t really know how I would react to the
gorillas. I had no experience with wild animals. But I knew
that in order to play the part [of Dian Fossey], which I wanted
very much to do, and in order to get Dian’s message out, there
was no time for me to worry about what was going to happen.
I remember I was pretty excited when we finally reached a
place with gorillas.”
The film seamlessly blended moments of actual gorillas in
their live habitats with scenes of humans in costume. Even
so, there were plenty of scenes where Weaver would interact
with actual gorillas. Not only did this add authenticity to the
film, it also helped Weaver understand Fossey’s own motives
and commitment to helping them.
“The first time you see the mountain gorillas, you feel so blessed;
you feel like you’re in Eden. One of them, a little female named
Josie, came right over and sat next to me. She kind of leaned
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on me and looked up at me. I was just captivated. I never
looked back after that,” says Weaver wistfully. “I always felt
that if I followed Dian’s basic rules of being submissive and
quiet, not drawing attention to myself and being respectful,
nothing would ever happen to me.”
It is a bitter irony that the real Dian Fossey spent so much
among these wild – and presumed dangerous – creatures,
and yet met her death at the hands of humans. Weaver admits
that the time spent among the gorillas not only galvanized her
desire to protect them but also triggered her own maternal
instincts, saying: “Playing Dian, I would usually have several
little baby gorillas jumping up and down on me, pulling my
hair, urinating on me, grabbing my bag…. And I had so much
fun with them, and I loved them so much; I remember thinking, ‘I would really like to be a mother!’ I got hooked on being
a surrogate mother, roughing it in the hills of Rwanda, and I
had my daughter pretty soon after that.”
Over the past three decades, she has cemented her place among
Hollywood’s elite and has garnered a reputation for playing
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“
The planet Earth has its own
life force – the oceans. Our oceans
generate most of our oxygen, regulate
our climate, and provide most of our
population with sustenance.
strong and formidable females, especially in her most famous
role as Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise. However, it would
be another film featuring extraterrestrials that would inspire
Weaver to once again speak out on conservational matters,
this time on behalf of our marine life. In CGI behemoth Avatar,
she plays Dr. Grace Augustine, a scientist who has dedicated
her life to analyzing the links between the alien Na’vi people
and the peculiar environment on Pandora. Similarly, Weaver
is determined to compel lawmakers to enact legislation to
save our oceans.
”
“The planet Earth has its own life force – the oceans. Our
oceans generate most of our oxygen, regulate our climate, and
provide most of our population with sustenance,” explains
Weaver, who narrated the 2010 documentary ACID TEST: The
Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification as part of her work on
behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“Marine ecosystems are essential to all life on earth,” Weaver
says. “Yet our oceans face a threat as dangerous as any Pandora
faced: ocean acidification.” The film explores the startling
phenomenon of the increasing acidity of our waters and the
subsequent threat to marine life. Like global warming, ocean
acidification stems from the increase of carbon dioxide levels
in the Earth’s atmosphere since the start of the Industrial
Revolution.
Leading scientific experts on the problem – many of whom
appear in the film – believe that it is possible to cut back
on global warming pollution, improve the overall health
and durability of our oceans, and prevent serious harm to
our world, but only if action is taken quickly and decisively.
Weaver insists that we simply cannot act fast enough. “One
of the reasons that science fiction movies are becoming more
and more popular is because we are actually in a world more
and more like the worlds in science fiction. Our glaciers are
melting and people are talking about colonizing Mars – so I
think that not only will it become a very popular and beloved
genre but also increasingly significant.”
The problem with ocean acidification is that while, individually,
we can all do our part to lower our own carbon footprints, for
the most part it is the lawmakers and politicians who need
to bring in legislation and devote money to monitoring and
researching a problem that could prove devastating, not just
for sea life but for our ecosystem in its entirety. By urging
politicians to support America’s transition to a clean-energy
economy, Weaver insists that America can increase its energy
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efficiency and invest in renewable power while cutting carbon
pollution. By passing strong clean-energy and climate legislation,
Congress has the power to move society toward clean energy,
tackle climate change, and protect our seas from acidification.
“Small creatures in the ocean who are being affected by acidification are like the canaries in the mine. They’re singing,
and we have to hear that and act,” insists the actor. “I, like a
lot of concerned citizens, feel a kind of urgency about these
climate questions. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more passionately about anything than this because I feel we’re already
at a tipping point.”
and aims to honor American women whose work has greatly
advanced conservation, locally and globally. In Weaver’s acceptance speech, she credited her experience working with
mountain gorillas in Rwanda for inspiring her environmental
and conservation work, emphasizing that it taught her the
importance of preserving animal habitats. She also credited
her role in Avatar as a botanist who champions the natural
world for intensifying her commitment toward protecting the
Earth. But surely it is us who should be thanking Weaver for
her admirable efforts in striving to protect something that is
arguably invaluable to each and every one of us.
In 2011 Weaver received the prestigious Rachel Carson Award
from the National Audubon Society. The award was established
in honor of Rachel Carson – a monumental figure in the 20th
century and founder of the modern environmental movement –
plaStIC oCeaN WaSte
$13 billion in damage every year to industries such as
fishing, shipping, and tourism, UNep reports. this is why
initiatives like “the ocean CleanUp”, founded by Dutch
student Boyan Slat, or “Waste Free oceans“ are developing
feasible methods to rid the oceans of plastic. the goal is to
extract, prevent, and intercept plastic pollution by initiating
the largest cleanup in history. Many companies have shown
an interest in using the harvested plastic. In an interview
with The Guardian, Slat says: “tens of companies – large
corporations – have shown an interest in buying up the
plastic and that is our holy grail; funding the cleanup using
revenues created by the plastic we extract.”
at least 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic are currently in the
oceans, a third of which is concentrated in the infamous
Great pacific Garbage patch, a maritime area larger than
texas. this plastic pollution inflicts grave environmental
damage, such as killing at least one million seabirds
each year. additionally, plastic pollution creates at least
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revenue with plastic waste? Yes, the brand Interface for
example has the biggest and most diverse choice of carpet
tiles made with 100 percent recycled yarn. their goal for
2020 is to only use recycled or bio-based materials, to cut
the dependence on virgin petro-chemical raw materials.
Its German competitor Desso now received a Cradle-toCradle-Gold certificate for using 100 percent recycled yarn.
there are many other sectors who depend on plastic –
decarbonization strategies have to take this in consideration
and they have to bring more stakeholders on board. Hannah
Gould writes in The Guardian: “Consumer goods companies
keen to design for recycling don’t know which system to
design for because municipal recycling is so diverse, while
municipalities and waste companies are overwhelmed by a
growing and changing portfolio of plastics.”
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