Cause Celeb
Olivia Newton-John, still fresh-faced at forty-one, has not completely transcended her ingenue image. But with a new album on the charts (Warm and Tender), some fifty-five Koala Blue boutiques around the globe and four years of motherhood behind her (she and actor-husband Matt Lattanzi have a daughter, Chloe), it can be said that this is not the Olivia of Grease or even Physical.
In fact, the Newton-John of the Nineties is going public with a serious passion: saving the environment. As the U.N.’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment, she’s even put the message in her music: Half the liner notes for Warm and Tender are pleas for conservation. Here she talks candidly about the issues:
“I’ve always avoided being involved in politics, but when I had Chloe, my priorities changed. I want her to be able to drink the water and breathe the air and have a wonderful life at least as good as I’ve had, and better if I can make it that way.
I used to think I could go back home to Australia, to hide on a remote farm and be safe. But the truth is that everybody’s problem is yours. This is not a political problem; it’s a world problem. There’s no running away.
I got a letter from a family who had my album. Although tuna was their favorite food, they decided to boycott it until something was done to stop killing dolphins in the nets. They were even taking a petition to school to stop them from serving tuna there. I’ve done just one thing and already it’s spiraling off in other directions, and I’m thrilled.
Saving the environment is a question of re-education; if we teach our children, it will be second nature for them. Chloe already wants to talk to me about the world. We share the recycling at home; we’re recycling in the Koala Blue stores by using biodegradable plastic and put-ting recycling stickers on our paper bags.
“Every campaign says, ‘You can make a difference,’ and people don’t believe it. But you can. Just by being aware and having respect for life. Cutting down on meat consumption. Turning off lights when you leave a room. It might take a little bit of time, but I think that’s all part of life. What’s more important: a little inconvenience or our future?”
Interviewed by Karen Moline