Rubber-faced actor Jim Carrey — who has taken his comedic skills all the way to the bank at roughly $25 million per movie – hasn’t exactly been a consistent fixture on the silver screen in recent years.
Of course, he really doesn’t need to be since he’s in the unique position at this stage in his career to carefully pick and choose his projects. Secondly, he’s been a bit busy trying to make the world a better place.
Sure, making people laugh for a living has its merits, but it’s actually his work with the Better U Foundation that has enabled the actor to make the greatest global strides. Carrey is actually the founder of the 5 year old organization, which is devoted to bringing new opportunities to the world that facilitate an enhanced quality of life to those who are less fortunate. Making empowering sustainable living practices available to the masses (I know…pretty cool!) is his number one priority in an effort to ensure that people acquire the necessary skills to fish rather than just order off the menu. To at least help alleviate the global food crisis, he’s zoned in on how to make a staple crop such as rice available to those who need it most.
He’s especially enthusiastic about the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) that helps farmers throughout the world with minimal financial resources successfully cultivate fertilizer and pesticide free rice crops (yielding 50 to 150% percent more) while using half the amount of water and 90% less seed. In addition to the obvious conservational aspects of this farming strategy, the technique is far more beneficial to local ecosystems, soil health, works well in areas prone to natural disasters and also significantly reduces the incidence of disease typically associated with conventional rice crops and standing water.
To that end, Carrey has immersed himself in the study of SRI and even recently addressed the Clinton Global Initiative (a brief summary of his presentation can be seen below) with his message that what the world needs now is MORE SUSTAINABLE RICE! What the world also needs now is a few more heart-of-gold Jim Carrey clones who recognize that converting part of their Hollywood fortunes into a lasting legacy of global change is the best way to squeeze the most out of the short time we have on this planet.
