Lisa Day.

What work do you do?

I am the vice president of social action and advocacy at Participant Productions.

What does your company do?

Participant is a film company with a twist — we only make “issue” movies, and for each movie we create social-action campaigns. Our films have included An Inconvenient Truth and Syriana, as well as Good Night, and Good Luck, Murderball, and Fast Food Nation. I get to work on the campaigns for each of our films.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m still doing a lot of work on An Inconvenient Truth, although I am increasingly occupied with upcoming films such as The Kite Runner and Angels in the Dust, a documentary about an AIDS orphanage in South Africa.

How do you get to work?

I will have to admit that I drive. I used to take the bus, but now I commute to Beverly Hills and there aren’t as many options. It’s a real problem.

What long and winding road led you to your current position?

I fell into my work — there was no plan. I was in law school at UCLA, knowing that I didn’t want to practice law, and worked one summer at an environmental group called the Earth Communications Office. After finishing law school, I ended up at ECO for 10 years working on environmental communications campaigns, and that eventually led me to Participant.

Where were you born? Where do you live now?

I was born in D.C. and now live in Los Angeles.

What has been the worst moment in your professional life to date?

Having to decide to leave an organization I’d been with for 10 years. I still feel like I left a big piece of myself behind.

What’s been the best?

Seeing the reaction to An Inconvenient Truth and knowing I played a role has been extraordinary.

What environmental offense has infuriated you the most?

Waste in all of its forms.

Who is your environmental hero?

The Union of Concerned Scientists — science with a conscience.

What’s your environmental vice?

Now that I drive to work again, I am behind the wheel of my car way too much. I offset my emissions every year, but it’s no excuse.

How do you spend your free time (if you have any)? Read any good books lately?

I am a voracious reader and a music geek, so chances are that if I’m not at a concert, I’m at home reading. I’ve been recommending Rory Stewart’s The Places In Between to everyone. Rory walked across Afghanistan in January 2002, and The Places In Between is as much a travelogue as it is a study of modern day Afghanistan, its people, and the effects of 30 years of war.

What’s your favorite meal?

I’m probably happiest when there’s Indian food in front of me.

What’s your favorite place or ecosystem?

Joshua Tree National Park.

If you could institute by fiat one environmental reform, what would it be?

I’m too much of a realist to aim big, so I would institute pay-as-you-pump car insurance — the more gas you use, the more you pay in car insurance. The less you drive (and the more fuel-efficient your car), the less you pay. It’s not perfect, but it would encourage less driving and higher fuel efficiency.

Who was your favorite musical artist when you were 18? How about now?

Peter Gabriel was my favorite and is still way up there on the list. I don’t think I could pick a favorite now, but Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Rós, Elbow, Magnet, and Kings of Convenience are some of the artists who are never rotated off my iPod.

What’s your favorite TV show?

Heroes is my TV pick of the season.

If you could have every InterActivist reader do one thing, what would it be?

Never be silent. If you’ve got an opinion, express it.

One Fine Day

Do you think that An Inconvenient Truth should have considered another “inconvenient truth” — that animal-based agriculture is a major contributor to the global climate-change crisis?    – Richard Schwartz, Staten Island, N.Y.

Lisa Day, Participant Productions.

The film itself focused on the two biggest contributors to the problem: fossil fuels and deforestation. However, I made sure that there was information on food and the impact that a meat-based diet has on climate change on the Inconvenient Truth website, because it is important. What it really boils down to is how much information you can get across in 90 minutes, and what is most compelling.

As Al Gore says, global warming is not a political issue but a moral one — yet the issue of global warming is so polarized between Democrats and conservatives, mostly Republicans. What can your company do to bring the conservative Republicans into the conversation?    – Dan Kessler, Santa Rosa, Calif.

We started and funded The Climate Project with Al Gore. The Climate Project is a program where Mr. Gore is training 1,000 people here in the U.S. to give his presentation, then sending them out into the world. The idea behind The Climate Project was to train people who could give the presentation in arenas where Mr. Gore (and the film) could not. The presenters have been heading to churches, Rotary clubs, Daughters of the American Revolution meetings, and other places since last September, and seem to be having a lot of success.

The work you do is one of my dream jobs. Do you have advice on how I can get into your line of work?    – Jess Steinitz, Boulder, Colo.

I’m always bad at giving advice on how to get my job (or one just like it) since I sort of fell into my work. Using film as a medium for creating social change is a relatively small but growing field. If you’re interested in the filmmaking side of things, check out internships with production companies, studios, or talent agencies. It’s a great way to gain an understanding of the film industry and how it works. If you’re more interested in the social-change side, consider working with a nonprofit that does a lot of work in communications. That’s how I got here — it’s a combination of both worlds, and it’s a great way to learn how to use (and abuse) media.

It irks me that someone in the “film industry” is using up far more energy than the average person. Forget Al Gore’s multi-room mansions; think of lights, cameras, and action — all highly energy-intensive and wasteful. It’s fun and all to go around making movies, but seriously, if you were to eradicate all of Hollywood, I’m sure that it would do more to alleviate anthropogenic CO2 than all their films, concerts, and award ceremonies combined.    – John Bailo, Kent, Wash.

Producing anything uses energy, but if you were to look at energy use across industries, you’d actually find that making movies is relatively benign. The entertainment industry has been shown to use less energy than a lot of other industries in California, and the studios here in Los Angeles are leaders when it comes to reducing waste and finding new ways to save energy. Studios are often early adopters of new, greener technologies. Like it or not, Hollywood yields a big megaphone, and I believe that if companies like Participant can use that megaphone to shed light on social issues and work to further green the industry itself, it’s worth it.

I’m living in Lima, Peru for six months — maybe more. I am always trying to green things up around here; green living is different in the Third World. Most mornings I wake up thinking, how can the world be greener? How can we make it all last longer? How can we make the air cleaner? Do you have ideas? Do you have advice on other developing countries and how they’ve transformed themselves?    – Laura Johnston, Lima, Peru

There is so much potential for “green” development in developing countries, from building out an energy infrastructure based on clean technologies, to sustainable agriculture. I’ve done a lot of environmental work with people and organizations in India and have seen such incredible progress in the past five to 10 years. I don’t know Peru as well, but I’d be willing to bet that there are some fantastic NGOs you could get involved with. A great place to start the search is online, through websites like GlobalGiving, UniversalGiving, or the Clinton Global Initiative. They can all connect you with local organizations working on issues you’re interested in.

Since the driving and pollution problem is so bad in L.A. and you’re contributing to it by commuting, would Participant’s employees consider moving somewhere smaller?    – Ginger Wireman, Richland, Wash.

There are production companies located outside of Los Angeles, but, unfortunately, a lot of our time is spent in meetings with folks in the “industry” here in L.A. So if we were to locate outside of L.A, we’d spend a lot of time on planes — and at the end of the day, we’d probably have a greater environmental impact than we do by being located in Los Angeles and dealing with the L.A commute.

How do you feel about Christians who see the effort to reduce climate change as a path toward one world government?    – Richard MacKinnon, Alexandria, Va.

I think we’re starting to see a lot of interesting work being done within Christianity to counter those attitudes and ideas: from the work of groups like The Regeneration Project with their Interfaith Power & Light campaign, to The National Religious Partnership for the Environment, to the statement from evangelicals who believe it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. Will we (as environmentalists) win over everyone? Probably not. But I have been pretty amazed at what I’ve seen developing over the past two years.