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Prince Charles makes MySpace rainforest plea
Sri Carmichael05.05.09
Prince Charles took to the internet today with celebrities and the Dalai Lama to make a plea to save the rainforests.
Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Robin Williams pledged their support to the Prince's climate change campaign in a film shown on website MySpace.
The Dalai Lama, Brazilian football legend Pelé, singer Joss Stone and Princes William and Harry also starred in the 90-second call to action.
Many of the stars talked to a computer-generated frog which sat croaking next to them as they implored viewers to demand international action.
The heir to the throne is the first senior royal to use a social networking website for his official duties. He hopes the broadcast, produced by the Prince's Rainforests Project, will bring his message to a younger audience.
The Prince warns that cutting down rainforests creates more emissions each year than all trains, aeroplanes and ships and calls for an “economic solution” to deforestation, which gives tropical countries the financial incentive to protect rainforests. He says: “We must act now. Future generations are depending on us.”
The film is being “premiered” online at 6pm today and will be shown simultaneously at an official launch at the National Geographic Store in Regent Street, which the Prince will attend.
He hopes people will be inspired to make their own film featuring the frog, a symbol of the rainforests, using technology on the Prince's Rainforest Project website.
These clips, or “mash-ups” — where people edit their message into the film — can be uploaded to video sharing site YouTube to publicise the campaign.
The frog was created by the team behind the movie The Golden Compass and the website and online engagement strategies were set up by President Barack Obama's campaign team.
A Clarence House spokesman said: “The Prince knows all about the popularity of social networking sites on the internet through his sons and their friends, and he sees an opportunity here to spread the message of the importance of tackling deforestation through the huge communities that exist online.”
The Prince hopes to raise public awareness ahead of the crucial Copenhagen environmental summit this year.
He secured global support for his deforestation campaign at the G20 summit in London last month. Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has offered to shepherd the Prince's proposals through meetings in July when Italy takes over the presidency.
