Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr. has invested $10 million of his own money into an initiative which aims to save the planet and combat climate change.
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Award-winning actor Robert Downey Jr. has invested at least $10 million of his own money into the Footprint Coalition, an environmental initiative which aims to save the planet.
The actor formed the Footprint Coalition back in 2019 with the mission of building the world’s most sustainable paper, ending global deforestation, and finding plastic alternatives.
Moreover, the venture supports companies developing sustainable business models and technologies which aid in combatting climate change.
The purpose of the Coalition is to bring together donors, investors and innovators needed to create the solutions we so desperately need.
Two of these solutions are cellular agriculture (lab-grown meat), and sustainably grown bamboo.
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Cellular agriculture
Downey Jr. criticises animal agriculture for its unsustainable and health-threatening nature. He informs his viewers in a short video that the practice uses 30% of the earth’s entire land surface, and creates a breeding ground for pandemics and antibiotic resistance.
Instead, the actor promotes cellular agriculture, AKA, lab-grown meat. By using tissue engineering we can replicate meat in a lab, without having to raise and kill animals.
Bamboo tissue
In a second short video, the actor unveils the shocking statistic that Americans flush 1 central park worth of trees down the toilet every day. In fact, toilet paper is responsible for 20% of deforestation.
Downey Jr. instead offers up the solution of bamboo tissue, as bamboo trees take less time to mature than hardwood, and regenerate after they are cut down. Moreover, bamboo trees sequester 3-4 times more CO2 than any other plant, and release 35% more oxygen – it seems like the perfect solution!
‘The paradigm must be smashed’
Speaking in a video message, Downey Jr. stated: “This global existential threat is not something that’s going to be solved by a smattering of elite mega-corporations.
“I think that the paradigm must be smashed in favour of innovation by a broad set of new companies.”
We are loving Robert Downey Jr.’s ambitions, and we hope that more wealthy celebrities and investors get involved to help save our struggling planet.
Have you ever wondered what our future would look like if plant-based farming became widespread?
Find out today!
Feature image credit: Gennadi Avramenko/Epsilon/Getty Images
