Media mogul Ted Turner received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his efforts to protect the environment. Up on the podium Turner stressed the importance of it all: "This is the greatest challenge that's ever faced humanity," he said. Turner owns ranches all over the United States, and is working to repopulate the once-endangered American bison.
Producer Jeff Skoll accepted the Corporate Responsibility Award on behalf of Participant Media. The company produces documentaries and feature films that often advocate for issues and aim to inspire political activism and social change. Participant Media produced films like An Inconvenient Truth, Food Inc., Syriana, and Oceans. In his acceptance speech the former eBay president encouraged the media to continue producing movies with a message: "Entertainment can play an important role in creating a better world," he said.
No surprise here: James Cameron's film Avatar won praise in the Feature Film category. Speaking with this reporter on the green carpet., the director said Avatar alone will not inspire change: "Avatar created an emotional feeling on behalf of a global audience that we need to do something about what we're doing to the natural world," he said. "But it didn't tell them what to do...this is where other aspects of the media come into play to educate and to teach people what they need to do." In his acceptance speech Cameron said he can't wait to work on another film like Avatar.
Bones, 30 Rock, and Living with Ed were given awards in the television categories. While Disney studios swept both awards in the children's television categories. HBO documentary Gasland was honored in the documentary film category. Out on the green carpet Bones actress Michaela Conlin told me how the cast and crew of the show live green on set- "We try to eliminate waste and our crew does as well which is really great. There's a lot of dirty looks whenever you use a plastic bottle on our set," she said, grinning.
At the end of the ceremony the message was clear: Hollywood must continue to flex it's muscle of influence and work to promote environmentalism and encourage people to take pride in their planet. But perhaps James Cameron said it best when he said "we need a global warming of hearts."
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