Hospitality Design - November 2017 - 125

the philanthropist
Edward Norton
Actor

Photos courtesy of EDWARD NORTON and CAMPI YA KANZI

Growing up in Columbia, Maryland, actor Edward
Norton was surrounded and deeply ingratiated in the
world around him. He went on countless camping
and river rafting trips with his father-himself a top
conservation advocate working for the Wilderness
Society and founding the Grand Canyon Trust, among
other ventures-from which "the roots of my love of
the natural world and the passion to protect all stem
from," he says. His father's eco-conscious pedigree
encouraged Norton to look beyond Hollywood and
focus on improving the planet.
Norton visited Campi ya Kanzi in Kenya with
his brother and sister in 1999, and was struck by
cofounder Luca Belpietro's "deep understanding of the need to make
biodiversity and natural resources an alternative income portfolio
for communities like the Maasai," he explains. He got his father to
help advise Belpietro and his wife Antonella Bonomi, and partnered
with them to help grow the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust
(he signed on as the U.S. board president in 2007), which protects the
land and biodiversity of Africa while simultaneously supporting the
Maasai community. "Belpietro built the most impressive community
conservation organization in East Africa," he explains. "He was not
the average commercial tourism operator making a few gestures at
conservation. He was a conservationist using tourism as strategy."
Most safari operations are "quite frankly just greenwashing" and
superficial, he says, and don't meet true sustainability standards. Yet
at Campi ya Kanzi, sustainability takes precedent: The camp gets its
water from rain cropping, operates on solar power with hot water
solar boilers, and more than 95 percent of the staff is made up of local
Maasai. In fact, he says, head guide Samson Parashina and trust

changemakers

president and chairman "is the kind of community
leader who will change the world if we can develop
the talents of more young people like him in
communities that live within critical ecosystems."
In addition to his work with the Maasai,
Norton was appointed United Nations Goodwill
Ambassador for Biodiversity in 2010, and that same
year founded CrowdRise, a grassroots platform
that raises funds for charities and nonprofits on
its way to reaching the $1 billion donation mark
after merging with GoFundMe. It's a natural
continuation of his philanthropic endeavors, which
includes raising more than $60 million on his
combined platforms for Hurricane Harvey victims.
But, he warns, "arguing solely for the spiritual
value of nature is not going to be effective against
the needs of what will soon be 10 billion people,"
most of whom are poor and without necessary
resources. "We must make the case for healthy
ecosystems and biodiversity as the foundation of
our economic future," instead of growing an economy that supports
and thrives off its abuse and forthcoming demise. Although he says
the current U.S. administration is "pursuing the most vindictively
regressive environmental policy of any major economic nation on
the planet," he remains optimistic. Their time in power is limited, he
points out, and the price-efficient clean-tech shift can't be stopped,
despite "all the corrupt subsidies baked into the oil and gas industries."
Norton also supports Earthjustice, a nonprofit dedicated to
environmental law, and the Conservation Lands Foundation (led by
Norton's father), and goes to the Equator Prize Ceremony every year,
where local communities are celebrated for their work and efforts.
Still, one of the greatest lessons he's learned throughout his journey
comes directly from his father: "He always says, 'Keep having fun in
the last best places.' I agree. These are dire times for the planet. But
you have to be happy to get to do this work, and you have to do more
than fight for the world. You have to travel and get out and see it so you
stay inspired."

Norton has partnered with the Maasai
Wilderness Conservation Trust to
protect Africa's biodiversity and
natural resources

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