River's 50th Birthday Fundraiser
for Rainforest Trust UK
Via JustGiving
£250.00 raised in River's memory
£250.00 raised in River's memory
ACTIVIST
"One thing I would like to do when I have the money is buy thousands of acres in the Brazilian rain forest and make a national park, so no one can bulldoze it to put a MacDonald's there.".....River Phoenix
River was a dedicated animal rights, environmental and political activist. He was a prominent spokesperson for PETA and won their Humanitarian Award in 1992 for his fund-raising efforts.
For Earth Day 1990, River wrote an environmental awareness essay targeted at his young fanbase, which was printed in Seventeen magazine (see below). He was also a vegan, and had been since the age of 8.
He financially aided a great many environmental and humanitarian organisations, and once bought 800 acres of endangered rainforest in Costa Rica.
As well as giving speeches at rallies for various groups, River and his band, Aleka's Attic often played environmental benefits for well-known charities, as well as local ones in his home town of Gainesville, Florida.
For Earth Day 1990, River wrote an environmental awareness essay targeted at his young fanbase, which was printed in Seventeen magazine (see below). He was also a vegan, and had been since the age of 8.
He financially aided a great many environmental and humanitarian organisations, and once bought 800 acres of endangered rainforest in Costa Rica.
As well as giving speeches at rallies for various groups, River and his band, Aleka's Attic often played environmental benefits for well-known charities, as well as local ones in his home town of Gainesville, Florida.
Video courtesy of 'fatbabyanimals' @ YouTube
EARTH DAY 1990
22nd April 1990 - By River Phoenix
Heavens mourn above us until dawn
Weeping see her tears as rain they fall
Winds whip through canyons
Manifesting splintered wrath
Mother knows that we've betrayed her
Dealing with the aftermath.
Sailing ocean cross the sea
Floating vessel carries me
Once I'm there, what is it worth
If I'm betraying Mother?
Stormy weather abruptly
Changes my course suddenly
Its so unfair starting at birth
Still mistreating Mother Earth.
So you see my friends what we have done
Shadows linger overhead
Heavy like the fog in the valleys
Under heavy earth lay dead.
In a boxcar hides an orphan
Seeking shelter, nothing more
Gliding now tracks lay before him
Leading him to distant shore.
Weeping see her tears as rain they fall
Winds whip through canyons
Manifesting splintered wrath
Mother knows that we've betrayed her
Dealing with the aftermath.
Sailing ocean cross the sea
Floating vessel carries me
Once I'm there, what is it worth
If I'm betraying Mother?
Stormy weather abruptly
Changes my course suddenly
Its so unfair starting at birth
Still mistreating Mother Earth.
So you see my friends what we have done
Shadows linger overhead
Heavy like the fog in the valleys
Under heavy earth lay dead.
In a boxcar hides an orphan
Seeking shelter, nothing more
Gliding now tracks lay before him
Leading him to distant shore.
These lyrics are from a song called 'Betraying Mother'. This year, 1990, the year I leave my teenage years behind, I realize that nothing else matters but this: We must heal our planet if we're to survive. Because my parents are so closely connected with nature and share the reality that Planet Earth is our home, I have always been conscious that we need to care for the earth as the living, breathing, supporting, feeding, nurturing home it is for us. As a young person, there were always other threats that seemed much greater to me along the way-nuclear war, the many hand-to-hand wars all over the planet, famine, poverty, crime, drugs, political prisoners, and an overall lack of compassion for every living thing. And closer to home, each of us has our own struggles with growing up.
There's a lot packed into our teenage years. We go from childhood into a time when hormones start taking over. It all seems to come at us so fast-we are developing physically and taking on much more responsibility at home. We're dealing with our school workload, peer pressure, the continual "What are you gonna be when you grow up?" question, trying to set a good example for siblings, choosing a college -and the millions of other things on our minds that have really little or nothing to do with our relationship to Mother Earth and our true natures as human beings who have taken it upon ourselves to be "in charge" of the planet.
With so much going on, it was quite a relief to think that our elected officials would take care of all of those major planetary concerns while we were just to concentrate on growing up. It's obvious now that not only was no one taking care of our home as we trusted, but that people were, and still are, perpetuating this planetary destruction.
Now as I look ahead to my future, I'm amazed at how the earth itself is letting us know in so many ways that there has been a gross injustice done by humankind. The many recent devastating floods, landslides, and weather changes show the earth's pain and how out of balance our ecosystem has become. At this point, not only have we polluted the earth we live on, the waters we drink and swim in, and the air we breathe, but we have even altered the atmosphere itself.
We are now in a global emergency, and for this reason I'm most thankful for Earth Day 1990, which hopefully will mobilize a worldwide massive citizen army to avert planetary disaster.
There are solutions to these problems, but most of them will take a conscious effort by every human being to eliminate from his or her life the things that are leading us to impending disaster. I list the following problems and I ask you to join me and become a part of the solution.
The Greenhouse Effect
Gases get trapped in the atmosphere, which acts like the glass of a greenhouse, letting sunlight in but not letting all the reflected infrared heat out. Because our forests and oceans can't filter out all of the carbon dioxide we spew into the atmosphere (from power plants, large-scale burning, and cars), it gets trapped and starts to put pressure on the planet. We must use less energy; less electricity, and reduce the burning of fossil fuels (mostly coal and oil). We really need to improve gas mileage for cars. We must make a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources-like solar power-that don't contribute to global warming. We must plant more trees because they are nature's storehouses of carbon dioxide.
The Ozone Layer
The ozone layer is seven miles up in the atmosphere and is a shield from the ultraviolet rays of the sun. This delicate membrane is being destroyed by man-made chemicals that drift up there-mainly the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, Styrofoam (as in fast food cartons), and industrial solvents. These CFCs eat away at the ozone and also contribute to the greenhouse effect. We need to work for laws that will ban CFCs. That's the key. We can't wait for everyone else to do it - you change the world by changing yourself.
Rain Forest Destruction
Forty-nine million acres of rain forest are destroyed or degraded each year. That's equivalent to one and a half football fields each second. These forests are vital sources of oxygen: They moderate our climate, prevent floods, and are our best defense against soil erosion. Forests recycle and purify our water. One quarter of all prescribed medication in the U.S. is derived from raw materials found in these forests. They are home to millions of plants and animals. The beauty and inspiration of these forests are important to millions of people. Rain forest destruction contributes to the greenhouse effect because there's no way to replant these jewels of nature fast enough to soak up the exorbitant amount of carbon dioxide they release into the earth's atmosphere when they're burned.
One force behind the destruction of the rain forest is our country's importation of millions of pounds of meat annually from Central America. To provide pasture for cattle, these countries have been burning and clearing their priceless tropical rain forests. We must make our outrage known to the businesses (especially fast food places) that use this meat; we must demand that they stop contributing to the destruction of our rain forests. One reason our Central and South American neighbors have participated in this destruction is because of the tremendous debts they have to countries all over the world. By exporting meat they make some of the money they need to pay back these debts. I say we should figure out a way to forgive them their debts so we may all live.
It's a tragedy that one thousand plant and animal species become extinct each year due to the destruction of tropical rain forests-and that the native rain forest tribes are being forced out. As the rain forests disappear, many of our migratory birds are also losing their winter homes. They're dying, and this is harmful because they naturally control the population of insects - and tragic because their beauty will be lost to the world.
Garbage
We've run out of room for all of the garbage our' 'throwaway', society has created. We must implement recycling programs in our homes, schools, and communities.
You can start by recycling aluminum, glass, newspaper, cardboard, and paper. Talk to your teachers and call your local elected officials to find out how you can get involved. Buy products that come in recyclable containers. Be persistent. Be enthusiastic. Be determined.
Chemicals, Toxins and Pesticides
We are literally poisoning ourselves because of the pesticides sprayed on our produce; the chemicals dumped on our farmlands to "nourish" the soil; the hormones, growth stimulants, tranquilizers, and antibiotics fed to animals that humans eat; and, of course, the pollutants spewed into the air.
Pesticides don't just affect the creature who ingests them first. They accumulate in the tissues of animals and then, as one organism is eaten by another, they build up in even higher concentrations. This means that a worm living in the soil will store pesticides in its tissues. Then a bird will eat the worm and ingest the pesticides eaten by the worm-and the tens of thousands of other worms it ingests in its lifetime. At each stage up the food chain, the concentration of toxic chemicals is greatly increased. The same is true of cows or chickens or pigs. Animals raised on factory farms build up especially high concentrations of chemical toxins because they're fed great quantities of fish meal (made from fish swimming in polluted waters); their other feeds are grown on land heavily sprayed with pesticides; and they are dipped in, sprayed with, and intentionally fed many toxic compounds to keep them "healthy" while living in filthy and unnatural conditions inside these factory farms. The days of livestock animals grazing together in lush green meadows are over.
These poisons are retained in the fat of animals. Each step up the food chain, animals become ever more concentrated carriers of the most deadly chemicals. You sit at the very top of the food chain, and whenever you eat anything that comes from nature, you are ingesting these toxins, too.
The solutions to these problems will take time, but they will be accomplished. I've learned that if you can't get it all together to accomplish this thing called peace, you do at least your part in your own life, because that's where you can truly make an immediate difference. I'd like to stop all of the world wars, but that's really an impossible endeavor for one person. But I can stop all the wars in my life. I can start with myself and improve my personal relationships with everyone I'm in contact with. I'd like to stop world hunger and famine, but one man single-handedly couldn't possibly stop everyone's hunger. What I can do is spend my own time, energy, and money enlightening others about the plight of the poor. And although I can't stop all cruelty to living creatures on the planet, I can be kinder to every living creature in my life.
Peace begins with you. Now. We must light the lamp of our consciousness so that we never react without thinking and questioning the means to get to the end that we are seeking. Because if the path along the way is covered with thorns, selfishness, cruelty, and greed, you can be pretty sure that the result will lead us to just about where we are today...near the end, if we don't do something quick. Therefore, I question everything with my consciousness lamp on to see if the road I take along the way will lead me to peace. In my life, I decided:
* Not to eat animals or animal products or to use their skins for my clothing, shoes, or decorations. There's such immense cruelty involved with the raising of animals for human consumption that if I can stop their pain by boycotting their products, I will immediately make a difference.
* To recycle. Also to question my habits of consumption. I try to use less of everything and re-use things whenever I can.
* To speak out and know that my voice can be heard by writing government officials, becoming politically active, lobbying in Washington, and becoming part of peaceful, educational demonstrations.
* To use less and less of those things that add to the demise of our planet.
In our family, we never were big for celebrating holidays, but this year my mother is asking for something on Mother's Day for the first time. She wants us to help her call attention to the world that this Mother's Day, 1990, should be dedicated to the most nurturing mother of all - Mother Earth. If gifts are to be given on this day, let all mothers request that they be gifts to the earth. We could plant trees, make donations to environmental groups, or give other gifts to promote understanding of the condition of the planet. This would truly make for a day worth celebrating.
With the help of all of you, I look forward to the years ahead of us when our generation can work together to create a happy, healthy, clean, and loving environment.
River Phoenix
There's a lot packed into our teenage years. We go from childhood into a time when hormones start taking over. It all seems to come at us so fast-we are developing physically and taking on much more responsibility at home. We're dealing with our school workload, peer pressure, the continual "What are you gonna be when you grow up?" question, trying to set a good example for siblings, choosing a college -and the millions of other things on our minds that have really little or nothing to do with our relationship to Mother Earth and our true natures as human beings who have taken it upon ourselves to be "in charge" of the planet.
With so much going on, it was quite a relief to think that our elected officials would take care of all of those major planetary concerns while we were just to concentrate on growing up. It's obvious now that not only was no one taking care of our home as we trusted, but that people were, and still are, perpetuating this planetary destruction.
Now as I look ahead to my future, I'm amazed at how the earth itself is letting us know in so many ways that there has been a gross injustice done by humankind. The many recent devastating floods, landslides, and weather changes show the earth's pain and how out of balance our ecosystem has become. At this point, not only have we polluted the earth we live on, the waters we drink and swim in, and the air we breathe, but we have even altered the atmosphere itself.
We are now in a global emergency, and for this reason I'm most thankful for Earth Day 1990, which hopefully will mobilize a worldwide massive citizen army to avert planetary disaster.
There are solutions to these problems, but most of them will take a conscious effort by every human being to eliminate from his or her life the things that are leading us to impending disaster. I list the following problems and I ask you to join me and become a part of the solution.
The Greenhouse Effect
Gases get trapped in the atmosphere, which acts like the glass of a greenhouse, letting sunlight in but not letting all the reflected infrared heat out. Because our forests and oceans can't filter out all of the carbon dioxide we spew into the atmosphere (from power plants, large-scale burning, and cars), it gets trapped and starts to put pressure on the planet. We must use less energy; less electricity, and reduce the burning of fossil fuels (mostly coal and oil). We really need to improve gas mileage for cars. We must make a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources-like solar power-that don't contribute to global warming. We must plant more trees because they are nature's storehouses of carbon dioxide.
The Ozone Layer
The ozone layer is seven miles up in the atmosphere and is a shield from the ultraviolet rays of the sun. This delicate membrane is being destroyed by man-made chemicals that drift up there-mainly the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, Styrofoam (as in fast food cartons), and industrial solvents. These CFCs eat away at the ozone and also contribute to the greenhouse effect. We need to work for laws that will ban CFCs. That's the key. We can't wait for everyone else to do it - you change the world by changing yourself.
Rain Forest Destruction
Forty-nine million acres of rain forest are destroyed or degraded each year. That's equivalent to one and a half football fields each second. These forests are vital sources of oxygen: They moderate our climate, prevent floods, and are our best defense against soil erosion. Forests recycle and purify our water. One quarter of all prescribed medication in the U.S. is derived from raw materials found in these forests. They are home to millions of plants and animals. The beauty and inspiration of these forests are important to millions of people. Rain forest destruction contributes to the greenhouse effect because there's no way to replant these jewels of nature fast enough to soak up the exorbitant amount of carbon dioxide they release into the earth's atmosphere when they're burned.
One force behind the destruction of the rain forest is our country's importation of millions of pounds of meat annually from Central America. To provide pasture for cattle, these countries have been burning and clearing their priceless tropical rain forests. We must make our outrage known to the businesses (especially fast food places) that use this meat; we must demand that they stop contributing to the destruction of our rain forests. One reason our Central and South American neighbors have participated in this destruction is because of the tremendous debts they have to countries all over the world. By exporting meat they make some of the money they need to pay back these debts. I say we should figure out a way to forgive them their debts so we may all live.
It's a tragedy that one thousand plant and animal species become extinct each year due to the destruction of tropical rain forests-and that the native rain forest tribes are being forced out. As the rain forests disappear, many of our migratory birds are also losing their winter homes. They're dying, and this is harmful because they naturally control the population of insects - and tragic because their beauty will be lost to the world.
Garbage
We've run out of room for all of the garbage our' 'throwaway', society has created. We must implement recycling programs in our homes, schools, and communities.
You can start by recycling aluminum, glass, newspaper, cardboard, and paper. Talk to your teachers and call your local elected officials to find out how you can get involved. Buy products that come in recyclable containers. Be persistent. Be enthusiastic. Be determined.
Chemicals, Toxins and Pesticides
We are literally poisoning ourselves because of the pesticides sprayed on our produce; the chemicals dumped on our farmlands to "nourish" the soil; the hormones, growth stimulants, tranquilizers, and antibiotics fed to animals that humans eat; and, of course, the pollutants spewed into the air.
Pesticides don't just affect the creature who ingests them first. They accumulate in the tissues of animals and then, as one organism is eaten by another, they build up in even higher concentrations. This means that a worm living in the soil will store pesticides in its tissues. Then a bird will eat the worm and ingest the pesticides eaten by the worm-and the tens of thousands of other worms it ingests in its lifetime. At each stage up the food chain, the concentration of toxic chemicals is greatly increased. The same is true of cows or chickens or pigs. Animals raised on factory farms build up especially high concentrations of chemical toxins because they're fed great quantities of fish meal (made from fish swimming in polluted waters); their other feeds are grown on land heavily sprayed with pesticides; and they are dipped in, sprayed with, and intentionally fed many toxic compounds to keep them "healthy" while living in filthy and unnatural conditions inside these factory farms. The days of livestock animals grazing together in lush green meadows are over.
These poisons are retained in the fat of animals. Each step up the food chain, animals become ever more concentrated carriers of the most deadly chemicals. You sit at the very top of the food chain, and whenever you eat anything that comes from nature, you are ingesting these toxins, too.
The solutions to these problems will take time, but they will be accomplished. I've learned that if you can't get it all together to accomplish this thing called peace, you do at least your part in your own life, because that's where you can truly make an immediate difference. I'd like to stop all of the world wars, but that's really an impossible endeavor for one person. But I can stop all the wars in my life. I can start with myself and improve my personal relationships with everyone I'm in contact with. I'd like to stop world hunger and famine, but one man single-handedly couldn't possibly stop everyone's hunger. What I can do is spend my own time, energy, and money enlightening others about the plight of the poor. And although I can't stop all cruelty to living creatures on the planet, I can be kinder to every living creature in my life.
Peace begins with you. Now. We must light the lamp of our consciousness so that we never react without thinking and questioning the means to get to the end that we are seeking. Because if the path along the way is covered with thorns, selfishness, cruelty, and greed, you can be pretty sure that the result will lead us to just about where we are today...near the end, if we don't do something quick. Therefore, I question everything with my consciousness lamp on to see if the road I take along the way will lead me to peace. In my life, I decided:
* Not to eat animals or animal products or to use their skins for my clothing, shoes, or decorations. There's such immense cruelty involved with the raising of animals for human consumption that if I can stop their pain by boycotting their products, I will immediately make a difference.
* To recycle. Also to question my habits of consumption. I try to use less of everything and re-use things whenever I can.
* To speak out and know that my voice can be heard by writing government officials, becoming politically active, lobbying in Washington, and becoming part of peaceful, educational demonstrations.
* To use less and less of those things that add to the demise of our planet.
In our family, we never were big for celebrating holidays, but this year my mother is asking for something on Mother's Day for the first time. She wants us to help her call attention to the world that this Mother's Day, 1990, should be dedicated to the most nurturing mother of all - Mother Earth. If gifts are to be given on this day, let all mothers request that they be gifts to the earth. We could plant trees, make donations to environmental groups, or give other gifts to promote understanding of the condition of the planet. This would truly make for a day worth celebrating.
With the help of all of you, I look forward to the years ahead of us when our generation can work together to create a happy, healthy, clean, and loving environment.
River Phoenix
River & his band, Aleka's Attic performing at a WARM (Woodstock Animal Rights Movement) benefit
"When I was old enough to realise that all meat was killed, I saw it as an irrational way of using our power, to take a weaker thing and mutilate it. It was like the way bullies would take control of younger kids in the schoolyard."..... River Phoenix
RIVER PHOENIX RANKS ACTING BELOW ANIMAL RIGHTS AND MUSIC
New York Times - 05 January 1989 - By Aljean Harmetz
When River Phoenix learned he had just won the National Board of Review's award as best supporting actor of 1988 for his performance in ''Running on Empty,'' his first response was to ask what the society was.
A few months past his 18th birthday, Mr. Phoenix is not yet into glittering prizes. If the awards ceremony conflicts with an anti-fur concert at which he has agreed to play his guitar, the popular young actor says he will keep his commitment to the animal-rights group. He does not wear animal skin on his back, at his waist or, most of the time, on his feet. And he has been a vegetarian since he was 8 years old.
During his most recent trip to Hollywood from his home in Florida, he picked at some vegetables mixed with tofu and talked about the immorality of eating meat.
''When I was old enough to realize all meat was killed, I saw it as an irrational way of using our power, to take a weaker thing and mutilate it,'' he said. ''It was like the way bullies would take control of younger kids in the schoolyard.''
ENVIABLE REVIEWS
As Danny Pope, who has spent 15 years hiding behind false identities in ''Running on Empty'' and who must choose between betraying his parents or his future, Mr. Phoenix earned enviable reviews, as well as a nomination today as best supporting actor for the Golden Globes given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. But the film did poorly at the box office last fall, selling less than $3 million worth of tickets. In a quest for an Academy Award nomination for Mr. Phoenix, Warner Brothers re-released the movie at a theater in Los Angeles a few weeks ago and intends to reopen in New York in the middle of this month.
Mr. Phoenix's reviews have been glowing since his first appearance as the sturdy 12-year-old leader of four young boys searching for the body of a dead boy in ''Stand by Me.'' He even got away relatively unscathed when critics mauled ''Little Nikita,'' in which he played the all-American son of Russian spies, and ''The Mosquito Coast,'' in which he played Harrison Ford's son.
The young actor has just finished a cameo role in Steven Spielberg's new movie, ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,'' in which he plays Jones as a teen-age daredevil, ''with lots of mad escapes.'' He said he did not mimic Mr. Ford's Indiana Jones, but ''used him as a reference.''
''When Indiana Jones is in trouble,'' Mr. Phoenix said, ''he'll give a real laugh and dart his eyes to the right or left and freeze a smile, a perpetual smirk.''
The new movie will reveal the origins of Jones's phobia about snakes. ''I had to do a scene where I'm at the bottom of a crate in a circus reptile car and I have to deal with thousands of snakes,'' Mr. Phoenix said.
BUILT IN BAROMETER
Sidney Lumet, the director of ''Running on Empty,'' has said of Mr. Phoenix: ''The talent is original and the personality is original. River doesn't know how to do anything falsely. Give him a false direction and he'll look up helplessly. Henry Fonda had that built-in barometer of truth.''
Still a little awkward about being interviewed, Mr. Phoenix concentrated on squashing bits of rice into the paper tablecloth. With crayons supplied by the restaurant, he drew a rainbow of lines that eventually turned into ''either a spaceship or Flash Gordon's pistol,'' he said.
Mr. Phoenix already has to struggle against the image that strangers are drawing of him, including a paperback biography that he says ''is so bogus it's amazing.''
''They say I'm 155 pounds with the build of a football player,'' he said. ''I'm 137 pounds. And the image the teen magazines want to manufacture is goody-goody sticky-sweet.''
The actor is the oldest of five children: Rainbow is 16; Leaf, the only other son, who is also an actor, is 14; Liberty is 12, and Summer is 11. He had a childhood almost as strange as that of his character in ''Running on Empty.''
STREET GUITARIST AT 5
In the film, Danny Pope's parents had protested against the war in Vietnam by bombing a napalm laboratory when he was 2 years old. When River was 2, his parents joined the Children of God, a religious cult, and preached in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. By the time he was 5, he was playing his guitar in the streets of Caracas.
''That was my only reality,'' Mr. Phoenix recalled. ''I would sing at jails with my sister and stand on street corners passing out literature containing uplifting messages about Jesus. I was nearly 7 when my parents started to leave in the middle of the night.''
In 1977, Arlyn and John Phoenix walked away from the Children of God, although their decision stranded them in a foreign country with four children, no money and no place to live. ''The group was being distorted by a leader who was getting very full of power and wealthy,'' Mrs. Phoenix said. ''We were serving God; we weren't serving our leader. It took several years to get over our pain and loneliness.''
After a few months of living in a rat-infested beach hut, the family slipped out of Venezuela on a freighter taking a shipment of toys to Florida.
PURE, NAIVE, POOR
In Florida, Mr. Phoenix said: ''Rich kids gave us their old clothes, which were the best clothes we had ever had. We were these very pure, naive, poor children. The rich kids called us a lot of names, but it never bothered us because we didn't know what the words meant.''
River and his sister Rainbow won so many local talent contests that they were written about in The St. Petersburg Times. A copy of the article found its way to the casting department at Paramount Pictures, and the family received a letter saying the children could be interviewed if they were ever in Los Angeles.
The family loaded the old station wagon and drove to California, but Paramount wasn't interested. Mrs. Phoenix found herself a job as a temporary employee at NBC. Then River's musical skills won him a role in the television series ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.''
He has not been in a regular school since fifth grade. ''Whatever I missed, I exchanged for something else, and it was worth it,'' he said. ''I love thinking and writing and researching stuff, going to the library and looking at microfilm. Environmental concerns are top on my list. If we don't heal the earth, we're gone.''
IN SUPPORT OF CHICKENS
His attitudes and ethics obviously echo the 60's sensibilities of his parents, but it was the 8-year-old River who persuaded his parents to give up milk and eggs. ''The chickens that lay eggs are so frustrated,'' he said. ''There's no sunlight in egg farms. It's like a concentration camp. Just the squealing of thousands of birds.''
Although the movie industry is usually a quick cure for naivete, Mr. Phoenix has not yet lost an artless trust in the kindness of strangers. Despite the superficial similarities between his childhood and that of Danny Pope, the actor said he used nothing from his own life in ''Running on Empty.''
''It takes away from my character's identity if I cross my past with his,'' Mr. Phoenix said. ''He needs to have his own life. I find it funny that so many actors are so self-centered about everything.''
The family retreated from Southern California to Florida a year ago. ''They moved for the kids,'' Mr. Phoenix said. ''The kind of people you attract in Hollywood don't have their heads in the right place.''
At the end of last month he and a band made up of Rainbow and teen-age friends rented a local theater for $65 and gave a concert of the progressive folk-rock music he composes. The first 65 people donated $1 each. Everyone else got in free. Music has always been his first love. Now, Mr. Phoenix said, acting is starting to catch up.
Copyright - New York Times
A few months past his 18th birthday, Mr. Phoenix is not yet into glittering prizes. If the awards ceremony conflicts with an anti-fur concert at which he has agreed to play his guitar, the popular young actor says he will keep his commitment to the animal-rights group. He does not wear animal skin on his back, at his waist or, most of the time, on his feet. And he has been a vegetarian since he was 8 years old.
During his most recent trip to Hollywood from his home in Florida, he picked at some vegetables mixed with tofu and talked about the immorality of eating meat.
''When I was old enough to realize all meat was killed, I saw it as an irrational way of using our power, to take a weaker thing and mutilate it,'' he said. ''It was like the way bullies would take control of younger kids in the schoolyard.''
ENVIABLE REVIEWS
As Danny Pope, who has spent 15 years hiding behind false identities in ''Running on Empty'' and who must choose between betraying his parents or his future, Mr. Phoenix earned enviable reviews, as well as a nomination today as best supporting actor for the Golden Globes given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. But the film did poorly at the box office last fall, selling less than $3 million worth of tickets. In a quest for an Academy Award nomination for Mr. Phoenix, Warner Brothers re-released the movie at a theater in Los Angeles a few weeks ago and intends to reopen in New York in the middle of this month.
Mr. Phoenix's reviews have been glowing since his first appearance as the sturdy 12-year-old leader of four young boys searching for the body of a dead boy in ''Stand by Me.'' He even got away relatively unscathed when critics mauled ''Little Nikita,'' in which he played the all-American son of Russian spies, and ''The Mosquito Coast,'' in which he played Harrison Ford's son.
The young actor has just finished a cameo role in Steven Spielberg's new movie, ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,'' in which he plays Jones as a teen-age daredevil, ''with lots of mad escapes.'' He said he did not mimic Mr. Ford's Indiana Jones, but ''used him as a reference.''
''When Indiana Jones is in trouble,'' Mr. Phoenix said, ''he'll give a real laugh and dart his eyes to the right or left and freeze a smile, a perpetual smirk.''
The new movie will reveal the origins of Jones's phobia about snakes. ''I had to do a scene where I'm at the bottom of a crate in a circus reptile car and I have to deal with thousands of snakes,'' Mr. Phoenix said.
BUILT IN BAROMETER
Sidney Lumet, the director of ''Running on Empty,'' has said of Mr. Phoenix: ''The talent is original and the personality is original. River doesn't know how to do anything falsely. Give him a false direction and he'll look up helplessly. Henry Fonda had that built-in barometer of truth.''
Still a little awkward about being interviewed, Mr. Phoenix concentrated on squashing bits of rice into the paper tablecloth. With crayons supplied by the restaurant, he drew a rainbow of lines that eventually turned into ''either a spaceship or Flash Gordon's pistol,'' he said.
Mr. Phoenix already has to struggle against the image that strangers are drawing of him, including a paperback biography that he says ''is so bogus it's amazing.''
''They say I'm 155 pounds with the build of a football player,'' he said. ''I'm 137 pounds. And the image the teen magazines want to manufacture is goody-goody sticky-sweet.''
The actor is the oldest of five children: Rainbow is 16; Leaf, the only other son, who is also an actor, is 14; Liberty is 12, and Summer is 11. He had a childhood almost as strange as that of his character in ''Running on Empty.''
STREET GUITARIST AT 5
In the film, Danny Pope's parents had protested against the war in Vietnam by bombing a napalm laboratory when he was 2 years old. When River was 2, his parents joined the Children of God, a religious cult, and preached in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. By the time he was 5, he was playing his guitar in the streets of Caracas.
''That was my only reality,'' Mr. Phoenix recalled. ''I would sing at jails with my sister and stand on street corners passing out literature containing uplifting messages about Jesus. I was nearly 7 when my parents started to leave in the middle of the night.''
In 1977, Arlyn and John Phoenix walked away from the Children of God, although their decision stranded them in a foreign country with four children, no money and no place to live. ''The group was being distorted by a leader who was getting very full of power and wealthy,'' Mrs. Phoenix said. ''We were serving God; we weren't serving our leader. It took several years to get over our pain and loneliness.''
After a few months of living in a rat-infested beach hut, the family slipped out of Venezuela on a freighter taking a shipment of toys to Florida.
PURE, NAIVE, POOR
In Florida, Mr. Phoenix said: ''Rich kids gave us their old clothes, which were the best clothes we had ever had. We were these very pure, naive, poor children. The rich kids called us a lot of names, but it never bothered us because we didn't know what the words meant.''
River and his sister Rainbow won so many local talent contests that they were written about in The St. Petersburg Times. A copy of the article found its way to the casting department at Paramount Pictures, and the family received a letter saying the children could be interviewed if they were ever in Los Angeles.
The family loaded the old station wagon and drove to California, but Paramount wasn't interested. Mrs. Phoenix found herself a job as a temporary employee at NBC. Then River's musical skills won him a role in the television series ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.''
He has not been in a regular school since fifth grade. ''Whatever I missed, I exchanged for something else, and it was worth it,'' he said. ''I love thinking and writing and researching stuff, going to the library and looking at microfilm. Environmental concerns are top on my list. If we don't heal the earth, we're gone.''
IN SUPPORT OF CHICKENS
His attitudes and ethics obviously echo the 60's sensibilities of his parents, but it was the 8-year-old River who persuaded his parents to give up milk and eggs. ''The chickens that lay eggs are so frustrated,'' he said. ''There's no sunlight in egg farms. It's like a concentration camp. Just the squealing of thousands of birds.''
Although the movie industry is usually a quick cure for naivete, Mr. Phoenix has not yet lost an artless trust in the kindness of strangers. Despite the superficial similarities between his childhood and that of Danny Pope, the actor said he used nothing from his own life in ''Running on Empty.''
''It takes away from my character's identity if I cross my past with his,'' Mr. Phoenix said. ''He needs to have his own life. I find it funny that so many actors are so self-centered about everything.''
The family retreated from Southern California to Florida a year ago. ''They moved for the kids,'' Mr. Phoenix said. ''The kind of people you attract in Hollywood don't have their heads in the right place.''
At the end of last month he and a band made up of Rainbow and teen-age friends rented a local theater for $65 and gave a concert of the progressive folk-rock music he composes. The first 65 people donated $1 each. Everyone else got in free. Music has always been his first love. Now, Mr. Phoenix said, acting is starting to catch up.
Copyright - New York Times
"Once when we were fifteen, River and I went out for a fancy dinner in Manhattan, and I ordered soft-shell crabs. He left the restaurant and walked around on Park Avenue, crying. I went out and he said, 'I love you so much, why?' He had such pain that I was eating an animal, that he hadn't impressed on me what was right."..... Martha Plimpton
The River Phoenix Center For Peacebuilding
Click here to go to the official site
In carrying out its Mission, RPCP is guided by the life, inspiration and activism of River Phoenix.
The Center honors his dedication and courageous contribution in the field of entertainment as well as to the well-being of the planet and all life that lives thereon. From an early age, he had the foresight to see and feel the connectedness of all life which led him to become a social justice, animal rights, environmental and peace activist. His approach was "solution-based" and RPCP is dedicated to following this path.
The Center honors his dedication and courageous contribution in the field of entertainment as well as to the well-being of the planet and all life that lives thereon. From an early age, he had the foresight to see and feel the connectedness of all life which led him to become a social justice, animal rights, environmental and peace activist. His approach was "solution-based" and RPCP is dedicated to following this path.
"River - You chose to speak out about injustice, the welfare of animals, human rights and the planet. You believed we all have a responsibility to each other. You believed speaking the truth carries no risk but silence in the face of things that matter has the potential to destroy us all. You believed in the truth inside each of us. You didn’t let ignorance, cruelty, bigotry, racism, sexism or the selfishness in our culture make you apathetic. You knew there was a choice. You chose to choose differently. You inspired a generation. Here’s to your timelessness as you continue to inspire for generations to come."..... Rain Phoenix
SOME OF RIVER'S FAVOURITE CHARITIES
ALDF (Animal Legal Defence Fund)
River was a spokesperson for ALDF's Students Against Dissection Hotline up until his passing.
Page from an ALDF newsletter featuring River
"I'm working with Students Against Dissection because I believe that students have a special role to play in alleviating animal suffering. Dissection teaches the cruel lesson that animal life is cheap and expendable. Choosing alternatives to dissection in biology classes is a simple and direct way for students to show respect for animals."..... River Phoenix
Earth Save
EarthSave was founded by John Robbins, a friend of River's and he was a great supporter of the organisation.
YES!
River Phoenix (August 23, 1970 — October 31, 1993), an Oscar nominated actor whose performances touched hearts and inspired imaginations, River also had a deep commitment to animal rights and sustainability. Indeed, he looked at his career as having value insofar as he could leverage it to make a difference in the world. His family was among the first major financial supporters of YES!’s work, and his siblings and mother have continued to support YES! in the years since his passing. River’s life and work were among the many inspirations for YES!’s Leveraging Privilege for Social Change program.
PETA
People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals
Help Fight Speciesism With PETA’s Art Inspired by River Phoenix
April 2020 - (original webpage)
The late River Phoenix was not only a supremely talented actor and musician but also a compassionate person who cared deeply for animals. When he was just 17 years old, he wrote this beautiful lyric:
"Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow
At a certain point, one can only binge-watch so many shows and spend so many hours on Instagram (even if that’s likely many, many shows and many, many hours). For those of you looking to take a break from the screen during self-isolation, PETA’s got you covered: Get out your crayons, paint, or any other medium of your choice and get to coloring with this anti-speciesism coloring page!
Download the colouring page here (pdf) No printer, no problem!! Click here for instructions for colouring the page directly from your computer
River’s legacy of kindness lives on through the other members of the Phoenix family, many of whom are committed animal rights activists in their own right.
River’s brother, Joaquin Phoenix, has collaborated with PETA on campaigns against the wool, dog-leather, exotic-skins, fishing, and turkey industries, among others. He also used his recent moment in the spotlight, as he swept the 2020 awards season for his performance in Joker, to speak up for animal rights and against speciesism. As he concluded the acceptance speech for his Best Actor Oscar, Joaquin paid tribute to his brother by reciting this lyric, which perfectly captured his speech’s theme of empathy.
River’s brother, Joaquin Phoenix, has collaborated with PETA on campaigns against the wool, dog-leather, exotic-skins, fishing, and turkey industries, among others. He also used his recent moment in the spotlight, as he swept the 2020 awards season for his performance in Joker, to speak up for animal rights and against speciesism. As he concluded the acceptance speech for his Best Actor Oscar, Joaquin paid tribute to his brother by reciting this lyric, which perfectly captured his speech’s theme of empathy.
On 30th September 2015 during the 35th Anniversary celebrations for PETA, the Phoenix family took to the stage to honour River and present the first ever River Phoenix Humanitarian Award. The award went to film-maker, Shaun Monson.
The Phoenix family together on the red carpet
Film-maker, Shaun Monson receives the first ever River Phoenix Humanitarian Award
"If I have some celebrity, I hope I can use it to make a difference. The true social reward is that I can speak my mind and share my thoughts about the environment and civilisation itself. There's so much shit happening with people who are exploiting their positions and creating a lot of negativity."..... River Phoenix
