Ian Somerhalder, Star Of The Hit Show "The Vampire Diaries", Is Doing Something About The Oil Spill Cleaning In The Gulf Coast

[caption id="attachment_3339" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Ian Somerhalder, Photo Credit: Ema Martins"][/caption]

Some might recognize Ian Somerhalder from "Tell Me You Love Me" back in 2007. Others might remember him from his stint on "Smallville" in 2004, or "Lost". Now, however, he's the deadly vampire brother in "The Vampire Diaries"--the one that makes girls all across the world swoon at just how well he pulls off the roll of Damon Salvatore. However you might recall him, here's another way to remember him. He's doing something honorable and standing up for what he believes in and doing something about it.

When The Vampire Diaries wrapped up its first Season in Atlanta, Georgia, Somerhalder planned to go back to Louisiana, where he was born and raised, and relax. He says, "I was honestly going home to Louisiana to hang out with my family, eat some of mom's cooking, and fish... Other than publicity work, that was my entire schedule for the break."

And then, on April 20th, disaster struck. An explosion destroyed the drilling rig positioned on the Gulf of Mexico just off the Louisiana coast, triggering an oil spill from a BP-operated oil well. Months later, oil continues to gush at an alarming rate into the water Somerhalder grew up next to.

He says, "I never wanted to be one of those actors with a political agenda, but this has become Obama's Katrina in the way he's dealt with it. It's a massive disaster, on a scale we haven't even begun to fathom, and it could have been stopped by a valve that cost half a million dollars."

He has recognized just how important it is to save the wildlife. Somerhalder went to the bird rescue center and was taking pictures and asking questions to gather enough information as possible so he could take it on interviews to get "a message out to massive amounts of people that will allow help to come," says Somerhalder.

Somerhalder has shot several PSAs to promote awareness and to get the word out that the Gulf Coast does need help and something can be done about it.

"...now we know that we have to start protecting our environment," says Somerhalder, who is definitely doing his share of it.

He says he is disappointed by the lack of uproar in Hollywood. "Coming from the entertainment world,  I'm really shaken by how quiet Hollywood is," he says, "And I say that out of respect for my peers and colleagues, but I'm really bummed that no one is really coming up to help the situation. I think a telethon is a good way to funnel money into these channels...We need to set one of those things up to really paint a picture of exactly how much devastation is here."

All I can say is, he's the only actor I've heard of that has taken this spill to heart and the consequences of it, and is trying to do something about it. It's noble characteristics like this that everyone should have, not just celebrities.

"I'm not a negative person," he says. "I'm just scared right now. No one really knows what's happening. From what we see on the surface, NOAA and the oceanographers can estimate what's coming out of the rig. But BP has denied scientists access to the footage of the gushing leak below the surface, so there's no way for us to know the actual realistic scale of the damage that's still happening. NOAA is a government administration! Why isn't Obama stepping in and demanding that footage, demanding a live view of what's going on?... I never talk about politics, but right now is a time to be angry and sad. There are countless people, children and families, who depend on that Gulf. It's their livelihood. I'm afraid for them."

"I feel like I could cry right now," he admits, "It's not just because it's my home. Just watching all these very proud, hardworking fishermen, who have never asked for anything in their lives, who support themselves and their families for generations with this one industry. Now it's likely to disappear. If it'll ever recover, we're talking decades and decades. It's beyond tragic."

Perhaps the greatest thing about this man is that he is not placing blame and saying who should pay--he is getting involved in relief efforts to save the wildlife and promoting the need to help, which, at this point is possibly the best, most important thing to do.