Leonardo DiCaprio has forged a solid reputation for being one of the most talented actors of our age.  Nominated six times for an Oscar, and picking up the Best Actor award this year for his performance in The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio has achieved a lot in a career which has spanned three decades. 

What you many not know about DiCaprio is that he is also an active climate change campaigner and activist.  In 2014, DiCaprio walked through the streets of New York with four hundred thousand people to highlight climate change and the need to take action.  Later, he spoke to the United Nations General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon who was also walking on the New York march.

In 1998 he started the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.  The purpose is to protect the world’s last wild places, implementing solutions to restore balance to threatened ecosystems.  By all accounts he launched the foundation after he met former vice-president, Al Gore, by chance on a flight to Europe.  The two spoke for the whole flight. Shortly after, DiCaprio started the foundation.

Since that moment, he has spoken to experts in the field of climate change.  He has had private tutorials and reads extensively on the subject.  He has sunk much of his personal fortune into fighting climate change, and uses his fame to gain access to influential people. 

In his Oscar winner speech he said:

“Climate change is real, it is happening right now, it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”  He urged the global audience to “reject the politics of greed” and support leaders willing to take action against climate change.

Leonardo DiCaprio is not the only celebrity to take action against climate change.  Not as many, however, have committed to the same degree.  He is the one man climate change campaigner.

Source: The Guardian