October 11, 2009 – York University in Toronto is conferring an honorary doctorate on actor Woody Harrelson for his work on environmental issues.

Harrelson, now appearing in the movie Zombieland and coming up in the Canadian film Defendor, will get the accolade during convocation ceremonies Oct. 17, the university said in a news release.

The 48-year-old actor, who was nominated for an Oscar for The People v. Larry Flynt and was a series regular on Cheers, has also made a name for himself by promoting sustainability issues.

“Mr. Harrelson’s understanding of why we each need to reduce our ecological footprint is authentic, and his efforts to inspire others to grasp and act on this concept provide an object lesson for those of us who teach,” said Prof. Dawn Bazely, director of the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability at York.

Harrelson lives a simple lifestyle in Hawaii with his wife, Laura Louie, and three daughters in a mostly self-sufficient community. The couple also run an organic food delivery company.

Most notably, he embarked on a bicycle tour, accompanied by a bio-fuelled bus, of the Pacific Coast Highway in 2001 to promote organic living.

Harrelson — a proponent of marijuana use, hemp products and yoga — lectured at college campuses along the way.

The tour was the subject of the Genie-nominated documentary Go Further, directed by acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann.

Harrelson and his wife also set up the Voice Yourself website, a virtual one-stop shop for youth, small businesses, educational institutions and non-government organizations to promote their environmental programs. Source.

August 15, 2009 – A celebrity that was green years before it was cool is Woody Harrelson. Harrelson has long been a supporter of the legalization of hemp. In fact, he was arrested in Kentucky back in 1996 for planting hemp seed. He eventually won the case even though the state law didn’t distinguish between industrial hemp (used for things such as clothing) and marijuana.
Harrelson also scaled the Golden Gate Bridge with the members of Earth First! to protest the harvesting of redwood trees.

Woody was the subject of the 2003 documentary Go Further, in which he traveled the U.S. in a biodiesel bus fueled with hemp oil. Along the way, he and his friends visited eco-friendly farmers, activist training camps, and tree-friendly paper producers, and talked at universities about being environmentally conscious.

Harrelson is also the founder of the web site Voice Yourself along with his wife Laurie Louie, Joe Hickey, Barbara Moss, Tom Ballanco, Tracy Harshman, and Stacy Owens. Voice Yourself sets out to inspire people to live a more conscious, organic life in hopes of restoring the harmony of the planet.
The site has sections where you can learn the latest green news, find ways to get off the grid (meaning to use non-traditional energy sources), learn about other green activists, and even a section on politics. You can also learn how to green your own body – by eating better, doing yoga, and practicing meditation.

There is a global community which offers a forum where you can speak to others about their environmental concerns and ideas for changing the future. There are games where you can learn to be greener, screensavers that serve as daily reminders of green issues, and even a pamphlet of yoga poses that can be printed out.

This is a great site and maybe by taking a look at it, you can take away at leasst a few ideas about how to live a greener life. That is a great start!
by Libby Pelham. Source.