Summary
Overview
Dax Shepard and Monica Padman interview Edward Norton in a wide-ranging conversation covering his environmental work with shipping emissions, his unconventional approach to his acting career, his famous grandfather Jim Rouse, and his incredible experience making 'The Invite' with director Olivia Wilde. They discuss Norton's selective career choices, his talent for mimicry, working methods, and what motivates him as an artist.
Edward Norton's Shipping Emissions Project
Norton discusses his innovative environmental project using barges with 15-story cranes to capture toxic emissions from ships in port. The technology sucks up nitrous oxide, sulfurous dioxide, and particulate matter from ship smokestacks, preventing massive amounts of pollution. In just one year of operation, the project captured emissions equivalent to taking 65 million cars off the road, demonstrating the enormous environmental impact of maritime shipping.
- Norton's barge company has a 15-story crane that hovers above ship smokestacks to capture emissions
- The crane was originally designed for delivering concrete to high-rise construction sites
- The system captures nitrous oxide, sulfurous dioxide, and particulate matter - the pollutants that cause smog and respiratory disease
- Ship emissions drive approximately $6.5 billion in respiratory health costs annually
- In 2023 alone, the project captured emissions equivalent to 65 million cars operating for a year
" The emissions off the ports in California drive like six and a half billion of respiratory health costs in the state every year like cancer asthma "
Jim Rouse: Edward Norton's Visionary Grandfather
Norton shares fascinating details about his grandfather Jim Rouse, a pioneering urban planner who predicted suburban sprawl in the 1950s and revolutionized American city centers. Rouse invented the food court, developed major urban renewal projects, and was featured on the cover of Time magazine for his visionary thinking about cities. Despite his success, he remained humble, living modestly and ultimately giving away most of his fortune to affordable housing initiatives.
- Jim Rouse was orphaned as a teen and lived a Tom Sawyer-like existence on the Chesapeake Bay
- Rouse gave Frank Gehry his first major architectural commission in 1967
- He was one of the first to predict that the interstate highway system would lead to suburban sprawl and hollowing out of cities
- Rouse developed Faneuil Hall in Boston and Baltimore's Inner Harbor as urban revitalization projects
- He gave away almost all his money to Enterprise Community Partners for low-income housing
" He parked cars and hustled pool to pay for night school, played really serious poker and never took his Navy pay because he won so much money playing poker "
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