DAVOS, Switzerland – Inequality was the main topic at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting earlier this month, but Leonardo DiCaprio reminded attendees of another pressing issue: climate change. DiCaprio was one of four people honored at the meeting with a Crystal Award, which are given to artists for work done to improve the world.
WEF leaders recognized Leonardo DiCaprio for his record of achievement in promoting a sustainable future. Through the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF), founded in 1998, he has been involved in numerous campaigns to save endangered species. He was also selected by the United Nations (UN) as a Messenger of Peace for Climate Change.
Leonardo DiCaprio takes his work as an environmental activist seriously. He produced, wrote and narrated “The 11th Hour” in 2007; this documentary detailed how climate change is affecting the globe and what it portends for humanity’s future. Seven years later, DiCaprio served as executive producer for two documentaries focused on conservation, “Virunga” and “Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret.”
In November 2015, DiCaprio visited India to see the effects of climate change as part of a new documentary. Sunita Narain, renowned Indian environmentalist, met the actor in Kheladi, a village in India’s Haryana province. Narain is the general director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi. The CSE brought DiCaprio to Kheladi so he could see how changing weather patterns have devastated agricultural communities.
At Davos, Leonardo DiCaprio spoke of the effects of climate change on Kheladi. “I have been traveling recently all over the world for a documentary about how this crisis is changing the natural balance of our planet,” he said. “In India, I met farmers who have seen their crops, their very livelihood, literally washed away by historic flooding.” In fact, a month after his visit to Kheladi, the Indian city of Chennai was hit with its worst flooding in over a century.
DiCaprio announced that his foundation will give $15 million to conservation and sustainability projects around the globe, but stressed that more help is needed. “Currently less than three percent of all philanthropic giving goes to defending our planet,” he said. “Given this limited support, it’s no surprise that roughly only two percent of our oceans and 12 percent of our lands are formally protected from invasive human activity like commercial fishing, agriculture, logging, and energy extraction.”
DiCaprio emphasized the impact that the people at the WEF meeting could make. “Imagine what we could all do with more partnerships,” he said. “With the alliance of many of you in this room so much can be done if we all work together. With your help we can quickly identify and fund the most innovative and effective projects that have the greatest potential to avert the crisis we face.”
Climate change is not strictly a poverty issue. It affects all of humanity, but it affects the poor disproportionately. While Leonardo DiCaprio’s final call to action was meant for the world’s elite, it applies to anyone who cares about poverty issues, climate change, or humanity’s future. “Now the challenges before us require each and every one of us to take action. We owe this to ourselves, but more importantly we owe this to future generations who are counting on all of us.”
Sources: Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation, Look to the Stars, Tech Times, World Economic Forum
Photo: IBT