Since making “Avatar,” filmmaker James Cameron has been like a mini Al Gore.
He’s traveled the world to talk about energy conservation issues, even touting that “Avatar” might be a more powerful tool to the environmental community than, say, Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” (As if!) This week, however, National Geographic is giving Cameron more street cred — they named the Academy Award-winner an Explorer-in-Residence at their headquarters in D.C. We’re told Cameron will put his storytelling skills and filmmaking technologies to use toward National Geographic Society projects and programs.
As an explorer, he’s very much interested in exploring the depths of the ocean (think “Titanic”) and new worlds (think “Avatar.”) Cameron is currently leading a team of scientists who are building a submarine. Next year, he plans to pilot it to the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, one of the world’s deepest locales. He’s also tied to a project that will explore the surface of Mars next year using an unmanned rover.
