Indiana Jones Joins the Global Crisis: When Celebrities Become Climate Refugees

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In a popular video shared during the L.A. wildfires, Harrison Ford can be seen inside a police car, wearing jeans and looking concerned. What makes this video stand out amidst the numerous intense scenes of destroyed neighborhoods and hazy skies, is the vulnerability displayed by Ford. Known for portraying action heroes on the silver screen who effortlessly escape danger with just the right amount of charm, Ford was himself evacuated from his Brentwood area, joining over 100,000 other Los Angeles residents in being displaced, and reliant on emergency services for his well-being.

Viewing well-off public figures like Indiana Jones, along with other wealthy individuals, struggling with the prospect of losing their homes due to climate change is an unexpected and poignant picture emerging within the group of climate refugees. Climate refugees are individuals who are compelled to move as a direct consequence of climate change’s impacts, and by the year 2050, it is estimated that there will be approximately 1.2 billion of them, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace. At present, these climate refugees could be families residing in temporary shelters in Bangladesh who have been displaced by rising sea levels or nomadic shepherds from Syria struggling with persistent drought and searching for fresh pastures for their emaciated livestock.

Gaia Vince, author of “Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World“, notes that our typical image of a refugee is someone destitute and desperate. However, she points out that those with financial means usually have the ability to navigate life’s challenges. What we are witnessing in Los Angeles currently, according to her, is an unusual phenomenon – affluent individuals fleeing climate change.

Some images of celebrities leaving their homes due to evacuation orders have been heartwarming, such as Police Academy actor Steve Guttenberg, who was not recognized by a local TV reporter amidst the chaos, rushing to move cars obstructing a Pacific Palisades street to allow fire trucks through. Similarly, Jennifer Garner was spotted in Altadena, wearing a hoodie and baseball cap, providing food to first responders and evacuees. On the lighter side, Dennis Quaid was captured during his evacuation attempt, attempting to squeeze a hamper full of his teenage daughter’s clothes into his Mercedes. However, some celebrity responses have been more questionable, like Chrissy Teigen posting a picture of herself crying inside a spacious closet in the $18 million home she shares with John Legend.

Film director Adam McKay, a resident of Hancock Park who managed to stay put amidst the city’s fires, expressed his sympathies and concerns for everyone affected, stating that we are all going through a collective trauma. Known for his vocal stance on climate change within the entertainment industry, he has been speaking with colleagues as the flames swept across the city. McKay lamented that many in Hollywood tend to dismiss climate change as something distant, but recent events have shown it’s not so far off. In fact, several acquaintances of his have confided in him this past week that they were unaware the consequences would arrive so swiftly, a sentiment echoed in McKay’s own 2021 Netflix film Don’t Look Up, which humorously critiqued celebrity and media apathy towards impending environmental disasters.

The rise of high-profile individuals displaced by climate catastrophes, who possess substantial means for reconstruction, has sparked a mixed reaction online, with some commenting “let Tinseltown suffer the same fate.” However, these incidents have also stirred a good deal of compassion. For instance, when reality TV personalities Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt revealed on TikTok their Palisades home was destroyed and they were dropped by their insurance provider, fans rallied to propel Montag’s 2010 album “Superficial” to the top of iTunes charts.

For scientists who have long been sounding the alarm about climate change resulting from human consumption of fossil fuels, the recent images of celebrities losing their luxurious homes in L.A. are not unexpected. However, this situation offers an opportunity, they argue, to create a more lasting impression than achieving a No. 1 album ranking.

According to Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University, opinions on climate change are deeply divided along political lines, with two main narratives – one blue and one red. He suggests that when celebrities share their personal stories about the issue, it may reach people who haven’t been convinced before. Despite Los Angeles being a large city in a prosperous state with top-notch emergency services, the system still struggled to cope during certain situations.

Numerous celebrities have contributed generously to wildfire relief efforts, with Beyoncé, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jamie Lee Curtis each donating $2.5 million, $1 million, and $1 million respectively. Adam Umhoefer, head of the CAA Foundation’s climate and sustainability initiatives, is encouraged by these acts of kindness, and his organization has also established a relief fund (check out page 55). However, Umhoefer hopes that Hollywood realizes the power of their platforms. “People learn about climate change through narratives, and we are storytellers,” he notes. “It will be intriguing to see if this event sparks a few more figures like Adam McKay.”

For some victims of past wildfires, that event served as a wake-up call. Chris Kelly, a writer-producer for Real Time With Bill Maher who lost his Malibu home in the 2018 Woolsey blaze, experienced this realization. “When we were evacuated,” he explains, “everything we had accumulated in our lives fit into a car.” Now, thousands of people are going through the same experience. This moment could prompt them to understand that what they saw on the news is indeed true, and the 1.5-degree separation is not just an abstract concept; it’s a reality, and this is how disasters like these unfold. (Scientists view a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures over preindustrial times as a critical threshold beyond which the risks of extreme weather events and sea level rise significantly escalate.)

In the realm of storytelling within the entertainment industry, particularly apocalyptic tales, there’s often a missing piece that the Los Angeles wildfires have brought into sharper focus, according to scientists. This overlooked aspect is the significance of human collaboration among communities. As Vince points out, movies and shows tend to portray disasters being resolved by superheroes. However, in reality, we don’t have the luxury of relying on a single superhero. Instead, our only means of escape lies in coming together as a community. You can’t summon Batman for help; the solution lies within us.

Chris Gardner contributed to this report.

This tale was initially published in the January 17th edition of The Hollywood Reporter’s magazine. If you’d like to get the magazine yourself, click here to subscribe.

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2025-01-17 20:26