Rebecca Reynolds Tickell (née Harrell; born March 2, 1980) is a producer, director, actress, singer, and environmental activist.
Acting career
Rebecca Harrell starred in the Christmas film ''
Prancer''. She garnered a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture. Movie critic
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
wrote of her performance that "what really redeems the movie, taking it out of the category of kiddie picture and giving it a heart and gumption, is the performance by a young actress named Rebecca Harrell, as Jessica. She's something. She has a troublemaker's look in her eye, and a round, pixie face that's filled with mischief. And she's smart—a plucky schemer who figures out things for herself and isn't afraid to act on her convictions".
She appeared in other films before putting her acting career aside to focus on environmental activism.
She has been interviewed on ''
Today'', and by ''
The New York Times'', the ''
Los Angeles Times'', and ''
The Washington Post''.
Environmental activist and filmmaker
In 2010, with husband
Josh Tickell, Harrell Tickell documented the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico for their film ''
The Big Fix''. The film premiered as an "Official Selection" at the 2011
Cannes Film Festival. She became sick during the making of this film due to exposure to the mixture of oil and
Corexit
Corexit (often styled COREXIT) is a product line of oil dispersants used during oil spill response operations. It is produced by Nalco Holding Company, an indirect subsidiary of Ecolab. Corexit was originally developed by the Standard Oil Compan ...
, which resulted in an irreversible skin condition.
The film received positive reviews, earning an 86% rating on the
Rotten Tomatoes website. ''
The New York Times'' compared the film to ''
Silkwood'' and described The Big Fix as "an enraged exposé of the crimes of
Big Oil". ''
The Village Voice'' wrote, "The film's scope is staggering, including its detailed outlining of BP’s origins and fingerprints across decades of unrest in Iran. By doing smart, covert reporting that shames our news media, by interviewing uncensored journalists, by speaking with locals whose health has been destroyed, and by interviewing scientists who haven’t been bought by BP (many have, as the film illustrates), Fix stretches into a mandatory-viewing critique of widespread government corruption".
Traveling across the country, the Tickells educate people on different environmental issues, focusing on solutions, mainly
algae-based biofuel.
Their production company, Green Planet Productions, makes feature-length films and also specializes in video-centered campaigns for eco-minded companies and organizations.
She met her future husband while producing their first documentary film ''
Fuel
A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...
'', which won the 2008
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
Audience Award for Best Documentary and was shortlisted for the
Academy Awards. The film also won awards from the
Sedona, Santa Cruz, Clarion,
AFI Dallas, and Gaia film festivals. She wrote and performed the song "Drive" for the film, which was shortlisted for a 2009
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...
.
In 2014, Harrell Tickell directed and produced the documentary film ''
Pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they u ...
'', which the ''Los Angeles Times'' reviewed as "well reasoned and compelling". A ''Bloomberg Business'' editor posited that "This is the second feature about ending America's dependence on oil from the wife-husband team of Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Josh Tickell. They're tub-thumpers, but not shrill...what the Tickells have to share is valuable." The Tickells made a documentary about the 2016
Dakota Access Pipeline
The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) or Bakken pipeline is a underground pipeline in the United States that has the ability to transport up to 750,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil per day. It begins in the shale oil fields of the Bakken Forma ...
construction and
associated protests on the
Standing Rock Indian Reservation
The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...
. ''On Common Ground'' was released in Jan. 2023.
Algae gasoline
The Tickells drove the first car powered by a blend of algae gasoline across America. The car was dubbed the "Algaeus" and got 150 miles per gallon because of its extended battery pack and plug. The gasoline engine was unmodified. "We really view it, not to sound grandiose, as an
Apollo mission for algae and renewable fuel" Harrell Tickell told ''
Scientific American''. With their convoy of alternatively powered vehicles, they drove across the country educating people about different green energy solutions.
I'll Be The One Organization
Harrell Tickell co-founded the I'll Be The One Organization, a national non-profit with the vision of "clean air, clean food, and clean water for all, through shifting energy". It is dedicated to education and media around sustainable energy.
Sir Richard Branson and Steve Howard participated in the launch of I'll Be The One's Green Curriculum for schools during New York City's Climate Week.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tickell, Rebecca Harrell
1980 births
Living people
American film actresses
American child actresses
American environmentalists
American women environmentalists
People from Hinesburg, Vermont
People from Lancaster, Ohio
Activists from Ohio
21st-century American women