My first celebrity of my celebrities making a difference category is Ted Turner. In high school, I did a report on how he got his start. He was one of the first to grasp the potential for network television, and made most of his money by starting tv channels such as CNN, TNT, and Turner Classic Movies. He is not an entertainer or sports figure, but he is a billionaire with a cowboy attitude. What I did not learn about him until now is that he has started a lot of charities. His philonthropic projects are concerned with very ambitious global problems: the enivoronment/animals, world safety, and human rights. Rather than giving money to existing charities, he has started his own. The most interesting are the United Nations Foundation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Ted Turner started the United Nations Foundation about ten years ago because the United Nations would not accept donations from individuals. He pledged 1 billion dollars, but delayed some of his payments when AOL Time Warner's stock fell. He even offered to pay some of the US's debt to the United Nation's. (I have no idea how the US can get into debt with the UN, or what the UN can do about it.) Anyways, the money has gone to the causes that the UN deals such as peacekeeping and aid to poor populations.
The Nuclear Threat Initiative seemed interesting because I had never heard of a charity concerned with nuclear terrorism. I had always thought of this topic as something that only countries can address. But NTI has supporters and cooperates with many different contries. I guess there might be a benefit for a an organization to address nuclear safety when there is nothing else on the political agenda. They have been partially responsible for eliminating highly enriched uranium in Serbia, setting up stronger security for the storage of nuclear material, and have funded the emergency response team for the World Health Organizes which is set up to address any rapid spread of a disease.
Bravo Ted Turner, I am going to do my part by watching your channels more often.
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2 comments:
I love seeing rich people evolve into philanthropist like such my heros growing up Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. I can't believe that he was actually going to try to pay of some of the national debt. That would be something if a group of rich people all got together to pay the entire thing off, but then again that would never happen.
It is very interesting to hear about Ted Turner's contributions. I agree with ryan747 about Turner trying to pay off the national debt. If people are willing to help repay it, why not let them?
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