Tim Robbins -- Celebrity Green Report
Written By Katherine Sansom
May 22, 2007
“We now face […] wanton environmental destruction in the Third World wrought by the very same corporate ethos that resisted for years the progressive gains in the United States.” – Tim Robbins
Tim Robbins is an American actor who has been making movies since 1985, and has gradually built a reputation as one of the best in the business. He is perhaps best known for his role in The Shawshank Redemption, based on a Stephen King novella, where he plays Andy, a man imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Tim has been honored with a number of awards throughout his career, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe and other nominations for both.
Outside of his work, Tim Robbins is also known as an outspoken supporter of various social and political causes, and he has risked public derision for speaking out against Bush’s government, the war in Iraq and the environmental destruction of the planet.
For choosing to do so, Tim has been rewarded with loss of work and cancellation of invitations to parties and award ceremonies. His wife, Susan Sarandon, has received the same, and even their children have been confronted by their schoolteachers and journalists. Yet both Tim and Susan stand firmly by their beliefs and remain as outspoken as ever.
Tim has been a supporter of The Green Party for most of his life, and in 2000, he and 15,000 other people turned out at New York’s Madison Square Garden to support Ralph Nader, a controversial Green Party candidate.
A full-page newspaper ad was placed, explaining: "Why Voting for a Candidate Who Can't Win Is the Smartest Thing You'll Ever Do. And Don't Worry, a Vote for Nader is Not a Vote for Bush."
Tim, Susan Sarandon and filmmaker Michael Moore gave a press conference, explaining that they were attempting to encourage independent candidates and swing votes in states where either Bush or Gore were leading the vote.
For this decision, Tim again received a lot of criticism – but this time from his left-wing colleagues and friends in Hollywood. In response, he wrote an article for The Nation in August 2001, explaining his decision to the world.
More recently, Tim has signed up to appear as an ‘Ecoist’ in a documentary on Robert Redford’s new Sundance channel – ‘The Green’. Tim will appear in one of the thirteen documentaries on eco-friendly issues, along with several other high profile celebrities.
Tim and Susan have spoken publicly about their attempts to maintain a low-consumption lifestyle, limiting the number of flights they take and avoiding unnecessary travel. They are also known to drive hybrid cars, and Tim was one of a number of stars to take part in the Global Green 2nd Annual Green Car campaign, and he arrived at the 2004 Oscars in a hybrid car to publicize their campaign.
Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon are not only two of the finest performers in the business, but they have worked hard to use their public profiles to raise awareness of these political issues – and have done so in the face of severe criticism. For this, they deserve all the support in the world!
