What Do Robert Redford, Cedric Philibert, and Orlando Bloom Have in Common?

They are all environmental advocates and they were all in Durham last week. Robert Redford came to campus to accept the inaugural LEAF Award by the Nicholas School of the Environment, and to “try to learn something at the same time.” Cedric Philibert, a head honcho at the International Energy Agency, came to present findings from the agency’s new energy report, which suggests a changed economic and ecological world, irrespective of scenarios used. As for Orlando Bloom? Alright, I just threw him in there to get your attention. But he is shooting a movie in town.

Back to the founder of the National Resources Defense Council, The Sundance Festival, purchaser of land in the west, and the erudite actor from “Sneakers”: Robert Redford. The notion of the LEAF award and concomitant weekend was to fuse the arts with sciences. In other words, to loftily inspire scientists to employ the arts to convey their quantitative findings and for artists to use their craft to funnel science to wider audiences. What came out of it?

Well, I for one may be doing my Master’s Project in documentary form. But on a larger scale, I think important connections were made, not just between people and institutes, but hopefully between disciplines. This is the spirit of the school and besides our “Spirituality and Ecology” class, I cannot think of anything closer to achieving that goal.