Celebrity activism often has a pejorative connotation, but it is actually one of the most effective ways to draw attention to social problems and, in some cases, to even raise efforts to solve them.
Take, for instance, actor Robert Downey Jr of ‘Iron Man’ who has recently announced the launch of a new organization committed to using advanced technologies, such as robotics and artificial intelligence, for the good of the environment. The Footprint Coalition, as the group is called, is scheduled to officially launch by April of 2020. The actor and director didn’t share any details on how the organization was going to achieve its goal but said that even making a small dent could be the most important thing he had ever done.
As of now, Footprint Coalition’s website is simply a holding page asking folks to sign up to learn about the next steps on “this environmental journey.” With this initiative, Downey Jr. joins a number of other celebrities with their own environmental foundations, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Matt Damon.