Cate Blanchett is an activist for the following causes: Abuse, Addiction, At-Risk/Disadvantaged Youths, Children, Depression and Suicide, Environment, Family/Parent Support, Human Rights, Rape/Sexual Abuse and Substance Abuse.

History
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is committed to inspiring people to achieve a healthy environment for all Australians. For over 40 years we have been a strong voice for the environment, promoting solutions through research, consultation, education and partnerships. We work with the community, business and government to protect, restore and sustain our environment.

Cate’s Part
Cate Blanchett is Ambassador for the Australian Conservation Foundation’s. She visited Brisbane, Australia in August 2007 campaigning for the Australian Conservation Foundation. She visited politicians and encouraged Queenslanders to be aware of climate issues. She was part of the online campaign at www.whoonearthcares.com – trying to persuade Australians to express their concerns about climate change.

Their Mission
ACF campaigns to protect restore and sustain the environment.

History
A Carbon Tax is a tax imposed on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, including CO2 formed as through the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas).1 It is one of two major market-based options to lower emissions, the other being cap and trade schemes. Implementation of a carbon tax system is feasible, because the carbon content of every form of fossil fuel can be calculated relatively easily as is the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere when the fuel is burned.2

There is a general consensus in the scientific community that the current increase in levels of CO2 emissions is destabilizing global climate patterns and threatening ecosystems, and there is much discussion about which approaches should be taken to reduced emissions. Some economists and environmentalists favor a carbon tax for its simplicity and rapid effect; whereas others favor cap and trade. In the US a cap and trade system is currently more politically favored.

Cate’s Part
For Cate Blanchett, climate change is an issue that is very close to home – literally. The movie star-turned-eco warrior is believed to have recently bought a plot of land in Vanuatu, one of the countries hardest hit by global warming. Rising sea levels caused the evacuation of an entire village in the Pacific island nation in 2005, the first time climate change is known to have displaced an entire community.

Actors Cate Blanchett and Michael Caton were part of a TV ad campaign to ‘Say Yes’ to a carbon price in 2011 sponsored by a collective of third-party groups, including the ACTU, GetUp and the Australian Conservation Foundation. She was not paid. Cate Blanchett says she will continue to do all she can to tackle climate change.

“Everyone will benefit if we protect the environment. There is a societal cost of increased pollution and that’s what I’m passionate about as a mother. That’s where it gets me in the gut,” she said. “I can’t look my children in the face if I’m not trying to do something in my small way and to urge other people.”

Their Mission
Catalyze innovative and practical solutions for climate change adaptation, mitigation, and climate stabilization, contribute to scientific research and communicate the results of that research in an accurate and comprehensive manner.

Create partnerships among policymakers, scientists, the public and environmental institutions at the local, national and international levels to address the climate challenge more effectively.

Provide objective and comprehensive information on climate change risks and potential responses.

History
SolarAid works in rural areas across East and Southern Africa; installing solar on schools, community centres and clinics. This is known as macrosolar.

Barely 2% of rural Africa has access to the grid yet many regions of Africa have the highest levels of sunshine in the world. SolarAid works with these remote and disadvantaged communities, helping them tap into an abundant source of free, clean and renewable energy – the sun!

Cate’s Part
Cate is the Patron of the development charity SolarAid. Opening the 2008 9th World Congress of Metropolis in Sydney, Blanchett said: “The one thing that all great cities have in common is that they are all different.

In 2008, Cate invested in Sungevity, a solar energy company that has been taking a bit out of the California residential solar market for a few years (and has recently raised $15 million in investment to take their company nationwide).

Cate filmed a special appeal for SolarAid to be screened at the Hay Festival. The video is available to view on YouTube.

Their Mission
They believe that the best way to fight poverty is to create jobs and businesses for people to generate income. Using a pioneering and innovative technique called microsolar, we train local entrepreneurs with sales and marketing techniques to manage their own businesses and generate independent income by selling our solar-powered SunnyMoney products.

History
The first Sydney Film Festival was held in June 1954, at the University of Sydney in four halls. This annual event has since grown into a two week affair that draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre.

The first festival had only 1200 tickets available, and the sold out audience saw films ranging from Jacques Tati’s Jour de Fete to Buster Keaton’s The General. People from all walks of life were attracted to the festival and by 1957 the festival expanded to the Wintergarden at Rose Bay, on Sydney’s famous harbour, and the Cremorne Orpheum, as well as the university.

Sydney Film Festival has not only brought exciting and entertaining films to local audiences but also encouraged dialogue between filmmakers and audiences. In 1977, the festival began programming panel discussions, an event that is still alive today, with many talks and forums scheduled into each festival year.

Since 2008, the festival hosts an Official Competition, which is recognised by the Federation Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films (FIAPF). The Sydney Film Prize, a cash prize of $AUD60,000, was established to reward new directions in film: that is, feature films which have emotional power and resonance, are audacious cutting edge and courageous, and go beyond the usual treatment of a subject matter.

Their Mission
The 2011 festival will screen the best of the world’s cinema, over 100 feature-length films from around 45 countries, including features, documentaries, short films, retrospectives, films for families and a series of talks and forums.

Cate’s Part
Cate is the Patron of the Sydney Film Festival.

Cate’s Part
Award winning actress Cate Blanchett may be an Australian native but she is a global citizen fighting for environmental freedoms. She traveled to Copenhagen on Monday to participate in the World Business Summit and give business leaders a piece of her mind.

Cate gave an impassioned speech urging the world leaders to seek eco-friendly methods to decrease their carbon emissions and increase sustainable practices. She also spoke about her homeland and how if things don’t change, Australia will face more disastrous fires like the ones from earlier this year.

The solution? Cate says we need to dramatically cut greenhouse pollution. Greenhouse gas emissions dramatically shot up in 2007—a dangerous contribution to global warming.

Cate Blanchett teamed up with the environmental org i speak earth to create a new video for their Action at COP15 campaign. Launched to coincide with the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Conference, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the dangers to the planet if serious action isn’t taken at the Conference. This isn’t Cate’s first foray into climate issues – she’s already been to Copenhagen to talk to business leaders about eco-friendly practices.

Their Mission
i speak earth has one goal: to mobilize the strongest possible public mandate for an ambitious, binding climate change treaty at COP15. Together with actress and environmental advocate Cate Blanchett, we can tell world leaders that immediate action is needed to curb global warming. We are one voice calling for global action at COP15 and beyond.

History
SK-II’s Clear for Life Campaign was created because we believe that connecting women in developing regions to clear, safe water can help them transform the lives of their communities.

The SK-II Clear for Life project exists because we have learned that connecting women in developing regions to a source of clear, safe water transforms their lives and empowers them to change the destiny of their community.
This is no little effect. Clear, safe water can help women to focus on protecting, nourishing, educating and employing their communities. This very precious gift of nature is so fundamental that without it, other resources and support simply don’t make much difference to a community.

The SK-II Clear for Life Campaign provides funding each year that goes directly to a variety of ways to help communities in need solve their water issues, including the provision of PUR™ water purification sachets and also helping communities to improve their local irrigation systems to achieve a more sustainable source of water.

Through a partnership with the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program and working with a network of organizations across Asia, the SK-II Clear for Life project will bring life-saving, clear and purified water to communities most in need. The technology at the heart of this is PURTM Purifier of Water. Taking the form of a sachet of powdered mixture that acts as a ‘dirt magnet’ when it is mixed in water, PUR™ removes pollutants and cysts and kills bacteria and viruses in contaminated water, turning this water clear, safe and drinkable in minutes.

As the threat to such communities is actually increasing, scarcity of clear, safe water will become an even bigger issue. By acting now, SK-II can help women immediately and bring hope for a better future by empowering them with access to clear, safe water.

Cate’s Part
SK-II global ambassador Cate Blanchett has donated three million liters already and isn’t done spreading the word. The actress appears in a short video just released on the SK-II Web site, prompting visitors to “Share the Word” via Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.

“Clear for life is an initiative to help people whose futures are being dominated by simple, basic problems. It helps the people in Asia who experience water shortages or are forced to consume contaminated water. Please share the word and tell your friends. Thank you for your support.”

Their Mission
Clear, safe water can help women to focus on protecting, nourishing, educating and employing their communities.

Their Mission
Kids Helpline is a counselling service for Australian children and young people aged between 5 and 25 years.

History
Robert F. Kennedy boldly faced tough problems and challenged the comfortable and complacent. To realize his dream of a more just and peaceful world, his family and friends founded a living memorial in 1968.

Today the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights is dedicated to advancing human rights.

Through long-term partnerships and cutting edge methods, we assist advocates who have won the RFK Human Rights Award. We support investigative journalists and authors who bring light to injustice through the RFK Book and Journalism Awards. Our Speak Truth to Power program educates the public and provides students with a toolkit for action to create change in the classroom, the community, nationally and internationally.

Their Mission
Partnering with RFK Europe, we provide human rights education advocacy programs to schools and communities across the continent. With RFK Children’s Action Corps, we urge legislative reform of juvenile justice systems.

Today the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit charitable organization that works to realize his dream of a peaceful and just world.