In 1995, ‘James Bond’ star Pierce Brosnan and his wife fought a giant saltworks beside a grey whale nursery; in 2000, Mexico abandoned the project |
Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith, who have been married for 32 years now, have always presented a united front and have stood by each other’s side through everything. This even includes waging a binational campaign against a big conglomerate to protect the Laguna San Ignacio in Baja California, Mexico. In 1995, the couple, who had been dating for around a year at the time, joined a fierce binational coalition to save the lagoon, which is deemed one of the last undisturbed primary nurseries for the Eastern Pacific grey whale. Efforts were made to stop the building of a saltworks plant, and the project was dropped after a five-year-long battle. Here is a look into the actors’ philanthropic efforts that saved the lagoon.
What made Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith join the effort
Around 1994 to 1995, the Mexican government joined hands with a giant global conglomerate to establish plants to make a saltworks plant in Laguna San Ignacio in Baja California. The project was proposed to span 116 square miles on the shores of the lagoon that was one of the last known natural and undisturbed primary nursery and calving grounds for the Pacific gray whale. As soon as the project was publicized, it was met with a lot of opposition from various conservation groups that emphasized the environmental impact the plant would have on the fragile ecosystem of the area.Many celebrities joined the effort, working with organisations to launch campaigns and call for a mass boycott. Many of the other efforts that were taken throughout this five-year-long campaign included publishing high-profile ad campaigns and mobilizing more than one million protest letters, as well as bringing international media houses to the lagoon to experience the gray whale nursery firsthand.
More about the international campaign supported by Pierce Brosnan, Keely Shaye Smith and other celebrities
The movement also brought together many prominent figures, Hollywood actors, activists, authors, scientists, and media personalities to fight alongside multiple organisations to oppose the saltworks plant. They joined hands with Mexican diplomat and environmentalist Homero Aridjis’s organisation, Grupo de los Cien (Group of 100), and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).Around 35 conservation organizations joined the campaign over the course of the five years, along with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, all of which stood up against the building near the lagoon area.Many celebrities, along with the ‘James Bond’ star and his journalist and environmentalist wife, stood for the cause. This included names like Glenn Close, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., renowned whale scientist Dr. Roger Payne, José Saramago, and landscape photographer and conservationist Robert Glenn Ketchum, along with many others.They planned out mass boycotts of many of the famed companies that operated under the conglomerate, along with more than a million letters of protest against the saltworks plant; they raised awareness on a global scale and successfully lobbied for change in administrative and legislative policies.
The actor and his wife have always stood by various environmental campaigns, and even have a charitable trust fund to make donations. (Instagram)
The Mexican government dropped the projectFinally, in 2000, after five years of continuous efforts by conservation groups, as well as celebrities like Brosnan, Keely, and many others, the project finally came to an end. In 2005, the government officially announced that, after much consideration, the saltworks plant plan had been scrapped and the deal cancelled.Today, after almost 20 years, the Laguna San Ignacio is a protected site as part of the El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site as well. In 2005, the Laguna San Ignacio Conservation Alliance was also formed to protect the space and provide some protection to the lands surrounding the lagoon area as well.
More about Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith’s philanthropic efforts
This is also not the only philanthropic effort that Brosnan and Keely have dedicatedly stood by. Over the years, they have partnered with and stood by many organisations to oppose things like high-intensity Navy sonar deployment that threatened marine mammals, as well as supporting many marine protection initiatives across the globe.In 2018, the couple worked together on the award-winning documentary ‘Poisoning Paradise,’ which covered local Hawaiian communities on Kauai and how intensive chemical pesticide use was taking place near the areas where they had been living. The couple is also known to actively donate to charities, school and youth programs, and school funding. ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ star also has a trust fund, which gets money mainly from the sales he makes on his paintings, which are then donated to support environmental, children’s, and women’s health causes.
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