A carton of recycled copier paper sits on the counter of the ER nurses’ station. The cast of Friends pours milk out of a reusable glass bottle. Law and Order’s Detective Briscoe asks his lieutenant to guess what the blue fleece found at the crime scene is made of. “Recycled plastic bottles,” she responds. From props in your favorite star’s hands to stories about energy conservation and pesticides, environmental products and themes are appearing regularly on America’s most popular television programs.

More than 300 entertainment industry leaders attended the launch of the Campaign to Defend America’s Environment’s “Million Voices” project Monday to use the Internet to bring the environmental views of an unprecedented number of Americans to bear on politicians in Washington, DC.

Campaign representatives announced the new project in Los Angeles on Monday at an event at Sony Pictures Studios for entertainment industry leaders, who heard reports from four national environmental leaders on the escalating attacks on laws that protect air, water, wildlife and the environment by the Bush administration.

Speaking for the Campaign, actress Donna Mills laid out plans to recruit more than a million Americans for Internet-based activism by Thanksgiving. The “Million Voices Project” will give participants an opportunity to make a difference on important environmental issues before congress and federal agencies.

“The Internet is revolutionizing environmental advocacy,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. “Within a matter of hours, we can get the word out about key votes, not just before they happen, but afterward to hold politicians accountable for their actions.”

Schlickeisen; Greg Wetstone, vice president for advocacy for the Natural Resources Defense Council; Deborah Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters, and Gene Karpinski, president of US Public Interest Research Group, offered perspectives from Washington on the wide range of environmental challenges launched by the administration. Attending the event were actors Ed Begley, Jr., Frances Fisher, Sharon Lawrence, Wendie Malick, Donna Mills, Kelly Preston, Mimi Rogers, Keri Russell, Michael T. Weiss, producers Paul Haggis and Debra Hill, and columnist Arianna Huffington among others.

“I want politicians to know that, if you vote against the environment, you won’t do it with impunity,” said Callahan. “This administration is wrong on the environment in the eyes of a large majority of Americans.”

“We are in an unprecedented situation right now. All of these thousands of species that we’re losing are like rivets in an airplane that are keeping us aloft,” said Begley, who emceed the session. “How many rivets can we loose before the plane crashes?”

The Campaign to Defend America’s Environment is a joint effort by Defenders of Wildlife, Earth Communications Office (ECO), Environmental Media Association, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, to build a nationwide network of activists to defend fundamental U.S. environmental protections.

CONTACT: Lisa Long of the Campaign To Defend America, 310-729-597