LOS ANGELES, CA - On April 22, 2003 (Earth Day), the Los Angeles Film School launched its second annual Earth Day Challenge: a 100-day postcard initiative aimed at encouraging U.S. automakers to make better, cheaper, and more accessible electric, hybrid, and alternative fuel cars and SUV's. The goal: gather 100,000 signed postcards by July 30th. Additionally, the people signing the postcards pledge to purchase one of those cars themselves within the next ten years. It's all part of the L.A. Film School's mission to promote what the latest technology has to offer, whether in art, or in life.

The challenge was launched at the UCLA's Earth Day Event, Tuesday, April 22, 2003, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Bruin Plaza on the UCLA campus, sponsored by UCLA CALPIRG (California Public Interest Resource Group), the Institute for the Environment, Reef Check, the Environmental Coalition, and the Sustainability Coalition, among others. Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom and Leonardo DiCaprio's mother, Irmeline DiCaprio, will be among the dignitaries speaking. A Greenpeace-sponsored, solar-powered truck will provide all the electricity for the bands that will be playing and a hybrid Toyota Prius and an electric GEM car will be on display at the event.

Acclaimed actor and long-time environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr. vigorously endorses this initiative, saying in a statement: "I can't think of anything more patriotic than reducing our dependence on foreign oil. We can clean up the air and save money with the hybrid and electric-power cars already on the market. Let's make sure we have American-made vehicles which incorporate these cleaner technologies now!"

Public Interest Resource Groups across the country pledging to help gather postcards include: SUNY Cortland, UCONN, Old Westbury College, Syracuse University, Oberlin College, Trinity College, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, University of Northern Colorado-Greeley, University of Washington, and Portland State University. Additional CALPIRG College groups helping out include: UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UC Irvine.

LAFS Earth Day Challenge originator and director Andy Shrader, says, "We're not asking people to give up their SUV's; we're saying to the automakers, make electric and hybrid SUV's; make hydrogen SUV's. The technology is there. Use it. And we're providing proof of the demand."

The Los Angeles Film School was designed with the overriding goal of changing the face of Hollywood. The school strives to bring new thoughts, ideas, and ways of looking at the world to its students in order to push the art of filmmaking forward into the 21st Century. Says LAFS Director of Education Amedeo D'Adamo, "This challenge fits that mission: we're simultaneously promoting cutting-edge technology while asking folks to take a more forward-thinking, conservation-minded approach to their car-purchasing habits: your purchasing decision affects everyone."

For more information on the Earth Day initiative and the school, please see: Los Angeles Film School. The postcards and fliers can be downloaded from the website.

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