Resources for Teachers and Students on Robert Redford

Prepare: In addition to being a renowned actor, director and filmmaker, Robert Redford has extensive credentials as an environmentalist, and in the quest for environmental peace has served on the boards of directors of some half-dozen environmental institutes and agencies. Those interested, can read his online biography.

Read: Robert Redford wrote an original essay for the Architects of Peace project. In it, he theorizes that modern society is experiencing a crisis in feeling and imagination.

Explore: Robert Redford has long been a supporter of the National Resources Defense Council, NRDC, serving on their board of directors and taking active part in many NRDC advocacy projects. Considerable resources are available on the NRDC website, covering a range of environmental concerns from global warming to nuclear weapons and waste.

Write: In his Architects of Peace essay, Robert Redford writes that if our humanity "is overtaken by the material and the cosmetic, there will be no hope of peace." Is this true? Defining materialism as a concern about material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual values, what exactly is the relationship between peace and materialism? If materialism leads us away from peace, what alternative values would assist humanity in the achievement of peace? Write a two-to-four page reflection paper on the relationship of materialism and peace.

Expand: In 1981 Robert Redford founded the Sundance Institute, which sponsors the Sundance Film festival. A great number of the independent films entered into the festival deal with peace issues. Not many people realize that there is now an online edition of the festival, which allows registered users to preview shorts from the various entries.

Additional Resource: Robert Redford is a board member for the Gaylord A. Nelson Environmental Endowment at the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin. The institute's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment has an excellent website containing research summaries, educational materials, and extensive links.

Biography of Robert Redford