Q: What about the subject matter of National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth really drew you to this project?

Edward Norton: I've always had a broad interest in environmental issues and increasing our collective knowledge about the interconnectedness of life. This show explores the actual scientific basis behind the old adage that when a butterfly flaps its wings in China, it creates a hurricane in Africa.

Q: Are you seeing more and more of a trend with the environmental community and the Hollywood community intermingling?

Edward Norton: Sure, but I don't think exclusively. I think that in some sense there has been a slow rising tide of consciousness in the American public since the days of David Brauer and the beginning of the Sierra Club, or even further back to John Muir. I think across the last century there's been a growing, deepening understanding of our impact on and stewardship of the environment. I think in the last 20 years that's really come into focus as the fallout of our industrial living has started to impact more people. I think it's permeating a lot of people's consciousness, not just in the entertainment community. People are confronting these realities, and I think, with the exception of the current regressiveness of the administration, on the whole it's become a bipartisan thing and not just a liberal angle. You have people like John McCain and other very progressive Conservative leadership that is equally focused on environmental issues. I think the short answer to your question is that environmental consciousness is something that is beginning to percolate on lots of different levels and in lots of different communities.

Q: What about the state of the environment, in particular, discourages you today as you see it?

Edward Norton: I think that we're behind where we ought to be in terms of the sustainability of the way we're living. There are certain thresholds, or tipping points, that I think this series addresses in a really interesting way. We may be rapidly approaching crashes in our ecosystems from which we will not recover, not only in our lifetime but that of our children or grandchildren. It's quite terrifying.

Q: What signs are there that there is actually hope out there? Edward Norton: I think that the series on some levels addresses that question. The more that science reveals the integrated nature of the earth's biosphere and ecosystems, the more effectively we can address some of the underlying causes. Also, I see great work being done all over. I come from a family of activists. My father is a career environmental activist. He is the director of the Nature Conservancy's China program. On a per capita basis, the United States is the worst environmental polluter in the world, but China is also way up there. [China] has been characterized traditionally as a place with very little environmental consciousness. My father went into China very skeptical about what the real level of support for conservation management would be. But he has been astonished at the level of scientific sophistication and real government support for building conservation management models. That's exciting, and it makes you think that a lot of positive change is really possible.

Q: What do you think has attracted both you and your family to environmental issues over the years?

Edward Norton: It was a long-standing passion of my father's; he was a big outdoor enthusiast and he was an attorney by training. He was a federal prosecutor, and when he left that world, he was head of public policy for the Wilderness Society in the '80s fighting all of those battles against James Watt and the EPA back then. All through my growing up that was his work, his career; he co-founded the Grand Canyon Trust, which is the main regional advocacy group for Colorado plateau environmental issues. He's been an enormously effective and groundbreaking environmental advocate. My brother and I spent vacations working for the Park Service in the Grand Canyon. My sister has traveled all over the world and is now in graduate school studying international environmental policy. It's a part of what we grew up in.

Q: Coming from an environmental background, how did you segue into acting?

Edward Norton: Acting is something I've been doing my whole life. That was always my career focus. It's not a nine-to-five job, and I'm lucky in that way. I get bigger chunks of time in between projects than some people do in a day-to-day job. It leaves me free to pursue an eclectic mix of other things, and when you can bring those talents or instincts for narrative or storytelling into a project like the [National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth] project that has a different intent, not an entertainment but an education intent, it's exciting. It's a fun way to integrate different sides of your interests.

Q: I read that Larry King declared that he would follow your lead and install solar panels on his house.

Edward Norton: I started a program through which the company BP Solar agreed that any time a celebrity or public leader in any field buys a solar system for their home through this program, BP donates a matching system to a low-income family through a housing foundation I work with. We're in the first year of the program, and I talked about it on Larry King. Larry did agree to join, and he's getting a solar system on his house.

Q: So is he following through?

Edward Norton: He is following through. Yeah he's actually doing it.

Q: Given that you can pretty much drive any car out there right now, can you talk about the advantages of driving a hybrid?

Edward Norton: I live in New York, so I don't actually own a car, but, I also have a home in Los Angeles and when I'm working on films or in LA for brief periods, I found a place that rents hybrids. I think that on an environmental impact level, hybrids are obviously more positive. They drive as well as anything, other than a Porsche. If you think about it, with gas prices going where they're going, nobody ultimately is going to buy that car because it pollutes a little less, they're going to buy it because, at $2.50 a gallon that car is going to save them between three and four thousand dollars a year, for your average commuter, on gas. And it's really interesting to see the technology reach the point where the car companies and the oil companies have no choice.

Edward Norton currently appears in National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth, premiering on PBS, Wednesday, April 20, 2005 (Episode 1: Invaders and Episode 2: The One Degree Factor) and Wednesday, April 27, 2005 (Episode 3: Predators and Episode 4: Troubled Waters), 9 to 11pm ET (check local listings).

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