Ted Danson: acting for the oceans - interview with actor and American Oceans Campaign co-founder Ted Danson

E: The Environmental Magazine, Jan-Feb, 1998 by Campbell Wood

Few celebrities who take up an environmental cause get beyond a superficial commitment. But as co-founder of the American Oceans Campaign (AOC), Ted Danson has steeped himself in the issues. While lobbying on Capitol Hill, he has been known to chase senators into elevators. Like his fellow actor Woody Harrelson (Conversations, May/June 1997), Danson clearly separates his life as an entertainer from his life as an environmentalist. His oceans work has earned him credibility, respect, and a high profile in both environmental and political circles.

Ted Danson the actor spent the early years of his career doing theater in New York City. In 1978, he moved to Los Angeles to teach and manage the Actor's Institute. Early film work for Danson included acclaimed roles in The Onion Field and Body Heat. In 1982, he first got behind the bar as Sam in the hugely popular television comedy, Cheers. By the time Cheers broadcast its final episode 12 years later, Danson had received two Golden Globe awards and two Emmys. His film credits now include Three Men and a Baby, Three Men and a Little Lady, Dad, and Made in America.

Bob Sulnick, executive director of AOC, remembers a certain evening about 11 years ago when he gave a public talk in Santa Monica to rally opposition to offshore oil drilling. At the conclusion of his talk, a tall fellow walked up to him and handed him a check for an impressive sum of money and then quickly departed the room. People asked him if he knew who that was. "No," he replied. "Haven't you ever seen Cheers?" someone asked. Sulnick was stumped. "What's that?" he said. And so began what would become a deep and enduring friendship between Sulnick and Danson, which has been at the core of AOC since its founding in 1987.

During the last decade, AOC swiftly developed into a leader of ocean advocacy. Among many accomplishments, AOC played an essential role in the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act. It was instrumental in protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. AOC is also co-chair of the Clean Water Network, a group of 800 organizations across the country dedicated to the reauthorization and strengthening of the Clean Water Act. And AOC is working to restore California's Bolsa Chica Wetlands and publicize the importance of wetlands conservation.

Danson recently finished filming Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg and co-starring Tom Hanks. He will also appear in Saul Rubinek's film, Tom and Jerry. But for this interview, Danson the ocean activist comes to the fore.

E: What led you to found the American Oceans Campaign?

DANSON: Let me ramble on this. I grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. My father was an archaeologist and an anthropologist. He was director of a museum and research center in northern Arizona. Peripherally, I must have absorbed the understanding that there is a lot that came before us and a lot that will come after us. It's not about you, it's about your stewardship when you're here.

We used to go visit our cousins in California and spend some time at the beach. And coming from Arizona, that was like a pilgrimage. I've always had this huge desire to be near the ocean. Flash forward. I'm doing Cheers and living in Santa Monica. I went to the beach, and one day saw a sign that said: "Water polluted, no swimming." Trying to explain that to my kid was hard. It got me questioning a lot of things. That was about 10 years ago.

About the same time, I met Bob Sulnick, who was an environmental lawyer and an ex-law professor. He was heading up something called No Oil, Inc., which was trying to stop Armand Hammer and Occidental Petroleum from digging about 60 wells on Will Rogers State Beach, right there in Santa Monica. I went to hear him talk and we became friends, so it was this local issue that we galvanized behind. When we won that battle, we were looking for some other way to play together.

Congresswoman Barbara Boxer, now a U.S. Senator, was talking to Bob about there being a real shortage of ocean advocacy. There was no group that did just that back then. And at the same time I was feeling a little guilty about how much money they were paying me to do Cheers. So we just got together as an experiment to see what we could accomplish if we put our time, energy and money into this one area. So it started with just a few of us working together. Now it's quite a respected ocean advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. and here in California.

One of the reasons that we picked oceans is that it's a great metaphor for everything that happens environmentally. Everything that we do on land ends up in the coastal waters, one way or the other. Global warming, the ozone layer - everything has an impact on the ocean. It's like a mirror, reflecting the health of the planet. It's exciting, though at times we may feel spread a bit thin as an organization.

Between 1988 and 1992 there were over 7,700 beach closures or advisories in the U.S. AOC has developed the first.ever beach closure protocol for Los Angeles County. What is the trend in beach closures, and how has that protocol served as a model for other communities?