Shailene Woodley celebrated after her arrest for activism

BANG! Showbiz

25 Oct, 2016 09:00 AM2 mins to read

Shailene Woodley has been honoured by the Environmental Media Association for her activism. Photo / AP

Shailene Woodley has been honoured by the Environmental Media Association for her activism.

The 24-year-old actress, who was arrested earlier this month during a peaceful protest, was celebrated for her activism, and urged people to "live a more compassionate life" and to think more about the environment.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the Divergent star said: "I don't know if I'm fearless, but I'm definitely one of those people who looks fear in the face. We are an environmental issue! Right? We are the environment. We are the soil, we come from the earth. In order to survive we need oxygen.

A Morton County Sheriff's deputy officer arrests actress Shailene Woodley at a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline near St. Anthony. Photo / AP

"For me, it's not about helping the environment or saving the environment. It's about recognising that if I want my children to know a world where Manhattan isn't all the way under water - because guess what, ladies and gentlemen, that world is not too distant and it's a reality that we must start facing and waking up to - [then] we've got to work to make that happen. And I'm down for that because I love this Earth. I love humanity.

"Thousands of people are committed to fighting and winning a battle against corporate greed with nothing but love and compassion. Live a more compassionate life, because the ripple effect of that is what is going to save our oceans, our planet, and our race."

The Fault in Our Stars actress' continued compassion for the planet comes after she was arrested for criminal trespassing during a peaceful protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline on October 10.

Actress Shailene Woodley is led to a transport vehicle by a Morton County Sheriff's deputy after being arrested at a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Photo / AP

Protestors fear the pipeline project - which aims to transfer crude oil across the Missouri river - could potentially cause irreversible harm to the drinking water for the nearby Standing Rock community, as well as the river's ecosystem.

Speaking of her arrest, Shailene - who livestreamed the event on Facebook - said: "I'm being arrested! I was down there with everybody else! I don't know what's going on, as soon as they came I left. It's because I'm well known, it's because I have 40,000 people watching."