Dozens of the world's top movie, television and music stars showed off their green cred on Saturday night at a Hollywood-style fundraiser honoring the Natural Resource Defense Council's 20 years in Southern California.

The event at Beverly Hills' Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel was a who's who of Hollywood environmentalists, including actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Redford, and Laurie David, a global warming activist and producer of the Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth." All three are trustees of the NRDC's Southern California office. In 2003, the group even dedicated its new building to Redford.

It's no secret that the environment and climate change is a hot cause in Hollywood, and it's hard to imagine another social issue drawing as much star power to one event. The party also raised a hefty $2 million.

"Mad Men" star Jon Hamm and designer Tom Ford also attended the party, which was hosted by "Seinfeld" star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and included a musical performance by Grammy-winning rockers Maroon 5. Actress Rosanna Arquette deejayed the after party.

On stage, Redford recalled why he joined the NRDC in the 1970's, saying it was "because they had the power to sue."

Many attendees echoed that refrain throughout the night, with Louis-Dreyfus bluntly stating: "I love lawsuits."

The evening also included a list of the group's legal victories in the region, including helping to stop inadequately treated sewage from being dumped into the Santa Monica Bay and testing children for lead poisoning in the 1990s. More recently, NRDC and other environmental groups last year reached a deal with land holder Tejon Ranch to permanently protect 240,000 acres of California land from development.

But the group also suffered a setback in the region last year after the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. navy can conduct sonar training exercises off the southern California coast without restrictions to protect whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the evening was as green as could be, with a vegetarian, locally sourced menu, organic wine, and trees and bushes as decoration. Even the table centerpieces didn't require watering, instead featuring asparagus and artichokes and tulips planted in stones.

Photocredit: Reuters (Maroon 5 performs at the NRDC's 20th Anniversary Celebration in Beverly Hills on April 25, 2009)

Robert Redford likes to say the Sundance Film Festival is a place of discovery for fresh cinematic voices, but often all we hear about are the stars. So, here’s some of those new filmmakers at Sundance 2009.

For a glimpse of some of the buzzed about movies at this year’s Sundance, click below.

Now this is a cultural exchange. Sundance kid Robert Redford has said that his Sundance Film Festival is engaged in early talks to lend its name to a sister film festival in Abu Dhabi.

“It makes total sense we would extend our mission into the Middle East,” Redford told reporters at a news conference ahead of the festival’s opening on Thursday night. He said festival organizers have been approached by people — although he did not say whom — in the United Arab Emirates city about holding a festival there. “We are in discussions, but nothing has been signed,” he said.

What makes it most interesting is that Sundance is known as the No. 1 festival for U.S. independent film, and it has long embraced movies about outsiders and people who live on the edge of society. Sundance champions gay and lesbian films and filmmakers. It’s not exactly the type of image many Americans would like portrayed overseas, especially in the Middle East. Or, is it?

Another thing that Redford, a long-time activist for liberal causes, did was slam the Bush administration for cutbacks to funding for the arts during his tenure in the White House. Redford said he was optimistic that President-elect Obama will restore a favorable climate for public funding of the arts after he is inaugurated next week.

“I think we are going to see art and culture return to the national agenda and that’s very exciting to me,” Redford told reporters.

But it begs age old questions: What exactly is art? Should taxpayer dollars be used to fund an art project that some might view as inexplicable or even trash? And who makes the judgement call? Or, should there even be a judgement call? All good questions and ones that impact you because, after all, it’s your money the U.S. government is spending.

History may judge him as the greatest actor of his generation, which includes the likes of James Dean and Marlon Brando, but Paul Newman was more than just an actor. He was a gracious gentleman, family man and generous giver of his time and his money.

His death, at age 83 after a long battle with cancer, cast a pall over Hollywood and in his hometown of Westport, Connecticut on Saturday, and his friends, family and colleagues remembered him.

Robert Redford, his co-star in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “the Sting” said in a statement: “I have lost a real friend. My life — and this country — is better for his being in it.”

Leonardo DiCaprio told Reuters that news of his death was ”sad and depressing.”

In Westport, at the public library where Newman and his wife of 50 years, Joanne Woodward, were often seen, reference librarian Nancy Clark said she set up a display of all his books, movies and biographies as a tribute. ”We are all terribly sad,” said Nancy Clark, a reference librarian at the Westport Public Library. “Once this sinks in it is going to hit the community terribly.”

But what about you, his fans?

Earlier this past summer when news reports surfaced that Newman’s condition had worsened and his death was near, we received numerous comments on Fan Fare wishing him the best and remembering his impact not just on movies and acting, but on numerous people he helped with his charity. If you have something to say, let us know.