A lot of people know Ed Norton from his classic role in Fight Club — the badass populist who organizes a global men’s organization to vent aggression. Aside from a slew of top notch acting gigs, however, he’s also been busy organizing his fellow stars for environmental causes.

In 2002, while visiting his father (an environmentalist and senior adviser of the Nature Conservancy’s Great Yunnan River Project in China), it was a revelation for Norton to see that almost all of the roofs in a Chinese city of five million were covered in solar panels. As a pilot, he had always noticed the flat roofs baking in the L.A. sun, and saw an opportunity to bring the energy-efficient panels to Southern California.

Norton came up with an idea that he then proposed to BP Solar: for every solar panel his program sold to a celebrity, BP would donate in kind to a low-income family. Thus was born the BP Solar Neighbors plan. Celebrities participating include Ed Begley, Jr., Daryl Hannah, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Salma Hayek, and Brad Pitt. The panels not only help the environment but also make a big difference in the lives of low-income families by reducing their monthly utility bills, sometimes to nothing.

According to Norton, he loves how the BP Solar Neighbors program brings people of different races and classes together toward a common goal: improving the quality of their lives. The first rule of Solar Club is everyone talks about solar!

For more information: www.solarneighbors.com