Actor Woody Harrelson and singer Billie Eilish have an important message: give up meat, dairy, and plastic for the planet.
The two vegans teamed up for a video spot entitled “Our House Is On Fire.” Eilish posted it to her YouTube page yesterday. The two also appeared on last night’s Season 45 premiere of “Saturday Night Live.” Harrelson hosted and Eilish performed.
“Our earth is warming up and our oceans are rising,” Eilish says in the video.
“From California to the Amazon, our forests are burning,” warns Harrelson. “We are in a climate emergency.”
Eilish says one million species are becoming extinct because of “mankind’s actions.”
The video urges people to take personal responsibility for their actions by giving up major contributors to climate change – meat, dairy, and plastic. The video is also a call to vote for politicians and legislation favoring aggressive climate policy. “History shows us that when enough people rise up and demand change, those in power have no choice but to act,” Harrelson says.
Committed to Change
Harrelson, 58, is a longtime vegan and advocate for the climate. In 1996, the Academy Award nominee, along with a handful of activists, was arrested for climbing the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a protest effort to save a 60,000-acre ancient redwood grove in Northern California.
He’s also been highly critical of the current administration’s environmental policies.
“Trump’s pulling out of the Paris Accord and he’s opening up all kinds of wilderness areas and parks to the extractive industries. He’s exactly what I expected – he’s a businessman making deals with other businessmen. It’s ‘Let’s make money, let’s deregulate.’ A lot of these regulations were very hard to pass in the first place, because of the power of these industries, and now he has taken what little regulation there was and is destroying it,” Harrelson told the Guardian last year. “Ecologically, he is the biggest disaster ever to happen.”
Eilish is less than a third of Harrelson’s age; but, like a number of teens today, the 17-year-old is taking global threats seriously. Eilish regularly uses her platforms to speak out about climate and animal welfare issues.
The stars also encourage viewers to support movements like Greenpeace and Fridays for Future — the global youth movement inspired by teen activist Greta Thunberg. Groups Eilish and Harrelson say are working to save the planet.
“After all,” Harrelson says, “it’s the only home we will ever have.”
