TORONTO

A boy in Boulder, Colo. has stopped talking in protest over what he believes is a poor global response to climate change.

But on a film set at the corner of Dupont St. and Davenport Rd., there’s a movie star who just couldn’t stop talking about it.

“I received an e-mail from him and it’s on my mind,” said acclaimed actor Mark Ruffalo from the set of a movie called Spotlight. “He just stopped speaking and I have been trying to think of ways to get him to start again.”

The 46-year-old was in between takes on the movie when he started telling his driver Lorne Frederick all about this unusual, quiet protest going on south of the border being led by an 11-year-old Native American boy named Itzcuauhtli Roske-Martinez.

The boy’s first name is from his father’s Aztec language and is pronounced Eat-Squat-Lee. His silence strike has now hit three weeks.

Sunday will be the 21st day.

“When I heard it, I thought what a story,” said my friend Frederick, who has been working in transportation on films in Toronto for 20 years. “I told Mark we have to call you, Joe. It just seemed like something that should be told.”

With that in mind he made the introduction to Ruffalo, known from roles in the Avengers as well as many other movies. He seemed quite concerned about his latest e-mail from the boy which he received Friday.

“I met Itzcuauhtli and his older brother Xiuhtezcatl in September at the People’s Climate March in New York City where there was 405,000 people,” Mark told me. “He is like a lot of young people who are in despair about the state of the planet and feel helpless.”

Friendly Ruffalo is considered by some media to be “the first famous face” in the protest against fracking and like other Hollywood stars, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, a strong environmentalist who will lend his voice to the cause.

But even he was stunned by what Itzcuauhtli decided to do last month by putting a piece of tape over his mouth.

Ruffalo likes the message and the kid’s spunk. But he didn’t want to encourage him.

“I thought it was radical,” said Ruffalo. “Now he’s getting bullied at school, he’s having a tough time and I just don’t know what to do about it.”

Ruffalo, who lives in New York state near the Pennsylvania border where fracking has been a big issue, is a father of three children himself.

“They are 13, nine and seven,” said Ruffalo. “I told them about Itzcuauhtli and they are worried, too.”

In Colorado the boy’s mother Tamara said she appreciates Ruffalo’s supportive pen pal friendship with her son and she’s hoping his “protest can be re-directed” thanks to the actor’s concern. “There is a day of action called Global Silence Now coming up on Dec. 10 where I am hoping my son will speak again,” Tamara said. “But I don’t know what is going to happen.”

But Ruffalo is not so sure Itzcuauhtli will give up the protest there. He said his interaction with the boy leads him to believe he is prepared to stay silent until he sees real discussion at the top leadership levels.

Itzcuauhtli is “determined” as part of the Earth Guardians movement to make a meaningful and lasting statement.

He has set up a website called climatesilencenow.org in which he writes, “I am on a silence strike until world leaders take action on Climate Change ... By world leaders I mean you! We have waited too long for the people called leaders to take action. We now face a crisis that threatens everyone’s future. I wanted to do something so I stopped talking on October 27, 2014.”

He also wrote: “If you feel the way I do and are ready to be a leader join us December 10th for a Silence Strike. Refuse to speak for a day or even an hour. When the silence strike is complete. Speak up about climate change and never stop.”

It’s a clever protest and I was thinking why hasn’t this received any media attention?

Tamara said there has been media requests but “we just haven’t done any so far.” She said her son’s approach was aimed more for youth and is something he was hoping to be more of an organic social media thing for “kids” to get inspired to make changes in the future that the adults don’t seem to be doing.

If it was a silent demonstration this could perhaps change now that Ruffalo told my friend Frederick about it on the set of the movie about the Boston Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in which the talented actor plays Pulitzer Prize winning Boston Globe reporter Michael Rezendes.

If it draws attention to the cause and encourages substantive discussion on climate change, Tamara said, Itzcuauhtli will certainly be happy for any attention.

Judging from the boy’s e-mails, Ruffalo said, this silence strike may be taking more of a toll than is necessary and he’s looking for ways to make the point that needs to be made without putting the boy at risk.

“It’s a huge sacrifice. I don’t know how to deal with this but I see that he’s struggling,” said Ruffalo. “I told him as a friend there is no shame in stopping this protest. I am worried he will actually lose his ability to speak. But I also told him if he decides to continue with this he should at least learn American sign language so he doesn’t lose his ability to communicate.”

If the young boy could get standing at next year’s UN Summit on Climate Change in Paris, Ruffalo said he wonders if that would encourage him to start talking again.

“I am hoping eventually his voice will be heard.”

joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca