Best known for her role as Brooke Davis on “One Tree Hill,” Sophia Bush and co-star Austin Nichols are hard at work off-camera, drawing attention to environmental issues near and dear to their hearts.

I spoke with Sophia during on 100th day since BP’s Deepwater Horizon exploded, creating the worse environmental disaster in U.S. history. The self-described “eco geek” and budding ecoista—she’s a fan of Stella McCartney, Rogan, David Babaii and Alba—was on location in North Carolina, after returning from a recent trip to the Gulf Coast, where she and Austin joined Global Green to investigate the BP oil spill and got a first-hand look at the corporate bureaucracy surrounding the clean up. “[BP] is really perpetuating the image that they’re trying to fix this,” she said. “But really the effort is to cover up how badly they have screwed up the situation.”

Bureaucracy is not a concept Sophia supports—especially when it comes to environmental and social justice. Despite reducing her meat consumption—she’s considering veganism—shifting the “One Tree Hill” set to compostable tableware and encouraging recycling, the star remains frustrated by the production’s inability to donate excess food to a local homeless shelter for liability reasons. “I understand that everyone is scared of…something not working and it coming down on them, but we need to stop being scared and start taking care of people and our environment,” Sophia told me. “Food waste in the U.S. accounts for a crazy amount of greenhouse gas emissions—we throw out 94 billion pounds of food every year! That’s insane.”

As @aus10nichols and @sophiabush, the couple continues to draw attention to the oil spill story. “A woman wrote me from Australia that the only news she was getting on the oil spill was from my Twitter account,” Sophia said, noting the irony: The actress only recently set up her social media accounts—under protest.

“I met a girl who was a fan of the show and she ran up to me and said, ‘Thank you so much it’s so cool that you always respond to me on Twitter.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t have a Twitter account. I don’t have Facebook, MySpace or friend-whatever.’ And she burst into tears! It ruined her day,” Sophia said. “I almost feel like I have to do the social media stuff now in order to get rid of the people who were impersonating me doing it. Words were misspelled. Honey, I was a journalism major—if you’re going to pretend to be me online at least spell check!”

But she does have limits. “People have said to me, ‘We really appreciate what you’re doing for the environment but can you tweet about other stuff?’ Not really. I really don’t care about what I ate for breakfast,” Sophia said. The focus remains firmly on her cause.

The actress, who grew up in Pasadena, CA, attributes her interest in environmentalism to summers spent at a camp in the Sierras. “We had this phrase, ‘Pack out what you pack in.’ We never left trash or a site disturbed,” she said. “Is it worth a $1,000 fine to throw your soda can into the wilderness? How hard it is to take that plastic bottle home and toss it in the recycling bin?”

And at the end of the day, Sophia believes that environmentalism is simply about making a personal commitment: “Everything starts with one person. Gandhi was one person. Martin Luther King was one person. And look at what they did! They started these amazing social revolutions. We need a social revolution for the environment. I know that we can do it. I know that it’s possible. We just need to get everyone on board and then we’re off to the races.”

But Sophia’s personal commitment goes even further: Her goal is to inspire others as well. “We have the capability to create a revolution, but there are still people out there spewing this bile that being an environmentalist is elitist. How is having a less expensive electricity bill and buying less expensive fuel and lowering your cost of living elitist? That’s crazy talk,” she said. “I love my job and being an actor but it’s not rocket science. The thing I want to do at the end of the day is pack out what I pack in—and then pack out somebody else’s trash.”

You can read the rest of the interview Here

Sophia Bush is gearing up to break a big sweat this fall—and all for a good cause. Although she hasn’t run a mile since junior high, the 28-year-old One Tree Hill star recently blogged about her plan to run a half marathon in November to benefit the Gulf Coast. Bush is determined to complete the 13.1-mile race despite a longtime battle with asthma. “An asthma attack is terrifying,” Bush wrote. “And when you’ve been debilitated by such attacks you begin to avoid activities that trigger them.” The stylish star kicked off her training last Wednesday with a one-mile treadmill run, and has increased her workouts daily. As week two of training begins, she is running with a group of about 12 runners. To get fit for roles in the past, Bush has worked with trainers who helped whip her body into “fighting shape.” Now, she’s taking her workout to the streets in an effort to raise money for the people of the Gulf Coast. “They need all the help they can get,” wrote Bush, who is reaching out to friends and family to garner sponsorship dollars. “So I am running. For the Gulf. For all of you. Because when my lungs start hurting, and my legs start screaming ‘this running business is BULL, Sophia!’ I think of all of YOU.” To learn more, check out sophiabush.com.

(Source)

View Sophia and Austin’s photos here and continue on to read the interview.

Louisiana native and “Vampire Diaries” star Ian Somerhalder has been working tirelessly to promote awareness of the dire situation on the Gulf Coast since the spill two months ago. Recently, he’s expressed frustration about the lack of industry and celebrity voices speaking out about the disaster.

“Brad Pitt and people at his level in this industry – they do amazing things for the world, all over the world,” Somerhalder tells Zap2it. “But it seems obvious to me that there’s a certain silence, with this particular issue, and I have my own theories why — politically, why that might be, but I would never discuss that, because they’re my thoughts. It’s not my place to project that on anyone.”

Somerhalder isn’t alone in his quest to bring awareness and aid to the Gulf coast. A number of celebrities, including Justin Bieber, Jenny McCarthy, and Alyssa Milano participated in Larry King’s special two-hour telethon “Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help,” which raised $1.8 million for disaster relief. And this week, some of Somerhalder’s fellow CW stars added their voices to the cause as well.

“One Tree Hill” star Sophia Bush has never been a fan of online social networking, but she and her co-star Austin Nichols signed up for Twitter accounts this week (@SophiaBush and @AUS10NICHOLS).

“I’ve never been a person that’s wanted to open up any facet of my personal life to any kind of social media,” Bush tells Zap2it, calling from New Orleans, where she and Nichols have been working with Global Green and learning about the impact of the B.P. oil spill.

“We started accounts because we were so angry about the spill,” Nichols — Bush’s boyfriend on screen and off — explains. “We wanted to get as many followers as we could before we got here so that we could tell people what’s going on.”

“All of my skepticism has been destroyed,” Bush says. “Last night the sheer outpouring of support, and not to sound cliche, but the outpouring of love that we’ve received — I have cried. I am humbled and appreciative.”

That’s not to say that she’s feeling particularly warm and fuzzy at the moment. After two days of touring Grand Isle, speaking to natives, and trying to get answers from B.P.’s contracted workers, she’s furious. “I’m enraged. I’m not even mad anymore. Coming down here I was angry, and leaving this place tomorrow, I am enraged and shocked that any of what’s going on down here is legal in the first place.”

For information about how you can help, check out United Way, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Nature Conservancy. Keep an eye on Zap2it for more from our interviews with Sophia Bush, Austin Nichols, and Ian Somerhalder.

Read the full article by clicking here.

May 7 – The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

One Tree Hill actress Sophia Bush is moved by what she sees on the runway at the Monique Lhuillier fashion show during NY Fashion Week on Monday (February 15).

Here’s what the 27-year-old star had to share:

JJ: Can you tell us what your favorite thing about Monique is?
SB: Her clothes are just so beautiful – they’re such a throwback to really classic, tailored, feminine design. She can really do anything. I put this dress on today and immediately it reminds me of that era, of Jackie O. It’s just so elegant.

JJ: Are there other designers who evoke that same persona?
SB: Absolutely, I think that’s the fun thing about fashion – it’s all relative to your taste, but I’ve seen so many people looking exquisite. Molly Sims at Diane Von Furstenberg yesterday was just bananas – she’s the ultimate, beautiful beachy girl and I’m trying to think – Melissa George was so classic at Herve [Leger]. But it’s just fun to see how everyone puts their own spin on things. Some people go classic and some people take a risk – it’s inspiring!

JJ: How was Valentine’s Day yesterday?
SB: It was excellent! [The Broadway musical Rock of Ages] is astonishing. A friend of ours actually produced it and I’ve been hearing about it for so long and it was the first chance we got to see it. It was just amazing – it rocks! Everybody’s singing and clapping and dancing – it’s a really new way to do a Broadway show but it’s so fun!

JJ: Are you obsessed with reality TV or any show? Did you watch Jersey Shore?
SB: I don’t, and the frightening thing is that I know who all those people are and I don’t watch the show! But I did see the parody they did of Snooki and The Situation guy they did on SNL – it was really funny. (Source)

Sophia Bush, who plays Brooke Davis, visits the One Tree Hill Podcast for an exclusive interview. Bush talks about her directorial debut, her official website (www.sophiabush.com) and when her Brooke character will find happiness.

Listen to Sophia’s great Interview with One Tree Hill Podcast right here