Ian Somerhalder to Testify Before Congress on Species Extinction

He may play broody, unbalanced and occasionally murderous vampire Damon on The Vampire Diaries, but in real life Ian Somerhalder is an environmental hero. The actor and activist is testifying before Congress on Thursday about species extinction,

particularly the plight of the leatherback turtle.

Somerhalder tweeted on Monday, “Heading to DC on Thursday, testifying in congress on species extinction! Prepping testimony now-so cool…Come see me!”

He followed that up with a second tweet on Tuesday, linking to the World Wildlife Fund’s page on the endangered turtle. “Talking about Leatherbacks in congress Thursday. Stewing about plastic bags killing marine life. NO MORE PLASTIC BAGS!!!”

Somerhalder, who launched his own environmental foundation last year on his 32nd birthday, is very vocal in his support of environmental and animal-rights causes. In the past several months, he’s worked to protect more than 300 acres of forest, spoken about sled dog cruelty in Canada and signed on as a spokesman for The Alliance for Global Conservation.

Article courtesy of ecorazzi.com