Just A Reminder That Leonardo DiCaprio Is A Dedicated Celebrity Activist, And Here Are 17 Times He's Spoken Out About Climate Change To Prove It
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Aside from being an internationally acclaimed Academy Award–winning actor, Leonardo DiCaprio is also a longtime environmental activist.
Leo started a nonprofit called the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, when he was just 24 years old, in order to fight climate change and promote environmental conservation. In addition, he's created numerous documentaries on environmentalism and has consistently used his platform to speak out about the climate crisis.
Here he is talking in front of a crowd at a gala held by the foundation back in 2015. At the organization's 20th anniversary event in 2018, Leo announced that the LDF had donated a total of over $100 million to more than 200 eco-friendly projects since its founding.
In 2019, Variety announced that the LDF was merging with Emerson Collective and Global Wildlife Conservation to form Earth Alliance, a new nonprofit dedicated to preserving biodiversity and tackling climate change.
Here are 17 occasions in which Leo has publicly addressed the Earth's climate.
1.When he got into the roots of his enthusiasm for the environment and climate activism.
In a 2015 Wired interview, Leo said he became interested in nature while watching Imax documentaries as a kid. Following the release of Titanic, he decided to play an active role in environmental causes. A conversation with former vice president Al Gore regarding climate change motivated the young star to make moves to protect the planet, including hosting an Earth Day rally and initiating his nonprofit organization.
"I was lucky and got to have a meeting with Al Gore in the White House. He pulled out a chalkboard and drew planet Earth and drew our atmosphere around it. And he says, 'If you want to get involved in environmental issues, this is something not a lot of people are talking about... ' — remember, this was 17, 18 years ago — ' ...but climate change is the single greatest threat to humanity that we’ve ever had,'" Leo said.
"That put me on this path. We did Earth Day in 1999. I started a foundation. I started speaking out about the issue. And then, of course, Gore’s film came out [An Inconvenient Truth], and I think that affected everyone in a profound way," he added.
2.When he gave a speech at the United Nations Climate Summit 2014 and explained the seriousness of climate change.
Leo has been named a UN Messenger of Peace whose primary area of focus is climate change. During this speech, Leo discussed the urgency of climate change, saying that people have had a tendency to view the issue "as if it were a fiction" rather than a pressing, factual matter.
"Every week, we’re seeing new and undeniable climate events, evidence that accelerated climate change is here right now," Leo said. "Droughts are intensifying, our oceans are acidifying with methane plumes rising up from the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections."
The Don't Look Up star also stated that, in regard to climate change, "none of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact." He then urged the government to halt granting tax subsidies to companies that contribute to practices that are harmful to the climate.
"We need to put a price tag on carbon emissions and eliminate government subsidies for oil, coal, and gas companies," Leo said. "We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy. They do not deserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny. For the economy itself will die if our ecosystems collapse."
3.When he appeared at the 2019 Global Citizen Festival and praised young people's passion for climate change.
While on stage at the festival, Leo praised the youth who had participated in the Global Climate Strike. This 2019 movement was initiated by activist Greta Thunberg and saw hundreds of thousands of students skipping class in an effort to urge politicians to address climate change.
"Last Friday, young people led the world in strike. Millions of brave individuals did more than simply walk out of their schools and places of employment. They took a stand," Leo said. "They set an example of true leadership that we so desperately need right now. These young people have said clearly, definitively, and without fear, that the time for inaction is now over."
Leo mentioned those who reacted to the strike "with insulting tweets and negative talking points" and reinforced to the audience that climate change has reached the most critical point it's ever been at.
"Yet, surprisingly, some have reacted to this movement with insulting tweets and negative talking points — individuals that seem to care more about profit and their own self-interests than about your future. But we know that the climate youth movement is more important and crucial than at any time in human history," Leo said. "And to turn this around, this movement needs all of our support to become even stronger and be even more impactful."
4.When he called out politicians who deny the facts of climate change.
"We should not have people in office that do not believe in facts and truths, in modern science, that are able to manipulate and risk the entire future of this entire generation," Leo said to former US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Yale Climate Conference in 2017, via Time. "So the more I've learned about this issue, the more I've become terrified, to tell you the truth."
Leo discussed how carbon emissions have resulted in oceans absorbing so much CO2 that "we're actually not even seeing on land the ramifications." Compared to other countries throughout the globe, the actor explained, the United States is behind in trusting the scientific validity of climate change.
"You go to anywhere else in the world, there is no argument about climate change. ... People accept it as a fact," he said. "This is the only country in the world where we have a political party that argues what is now, basically, scientific fact. I mean, it's like arguing whether gravity exists or not."
5.When he put a time frame on the climate crisis.
In Don't Look Up, Leo and Jennifer Lawrence played astronomers who inform the public that a comet is approaching Earth and will wipe out the planet. While being interviewed to promote the film, Leo stated that, similar to this scenario in the movie, "there is a ticking clock" in regard to climate change.
"I think there’s a worldwide sense of anxiety about the fact that the powers that be, the private sector, governments, are not making the transition fast enough," Leo said to Deadline in 2022. "We literally have a nine-year window."
He elaborated on this time frame and stated that starting a conversation among the viewers of Don't Look Up is one reason why the project "is so important" for audiences.
"When we reach a threshold where the thawing of the ice and the tundra and Greenland and the arctic starts to release even more carbon ... we’re already seeing it happen," Leo said as to what we can expect at the end of this nine-year timeline without action being taken. "That’s why this movie is so important. It is really the question of what the media prioritizes."
6.When he shared his findings on the climate and our environment in the 2016 documentary Before the Flood.
The Fisher Stevens–directed Before the Flood showed Leo meeting with politicians and scientists and engaging in informative discourses on climate change. He spoke to Access Hollywood in 2016 about the purpose behind filming the documentary, which included discussions with former president Barack Obama, Pope Francis, and more.
"It's really a conversation about the urgency of taking action on climate change. We go from India, to China, to the Arctic, to the South Pole ... to Indonesia," Leo said. "And we traveled all over the world to try to tell specific stories about how climate change is affecting us today and how much we need to take action immediately."
7.When he did a panel discussion on climate change with former president Barack Obama and scientist Katharine Hayhoe.
In 2016, Leo spoke with Barack and Katharine about climate change on the South Lawn of the White House. At the start of the meeting, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star emphasized the need for politicians who prioritize combating climate change.
"This moment is more important than ever," Leo said, per NBC News. "We must empower leaders who not only believe in climate change but are willing to do something about it. The scientific consensus is in, and the argument is now over. If you do not believe in climate change, you do not believe in facts or in science or empirical truths, and therefore, in my humble opinion, should not be allowed to hold public office."
8.When his organization donated to aid the Amazon rainforest amid devastating fires and he talked about the rainforest's role in protecting our climate.
In August 2019, Earth Alliance offered a sum of $5 million to go toward fighting fires that had been causing severe damage in the Amazon rainforest. While speaking to ET Canada that same month, Leo opened up about what inspired him and other Earth Alliance team members to donate the funds and protect the Amazon.
"Having been to the Amazon, having stayed there and knowing, not only the importance that it is for stabilizing climate, but the beauty of biodiversity and the cultures that live there, it's incredibly tragic," Leo said.
Furthermore, Leo elaborated on the seriousness of the natural disasters faced by the Amazon and other areas of the world. Just after this interview, BuzzFeed News reported that the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) revealed more than 90,000 fires had hit the Amazon rainforest so far in 2019.
"There's a major tragedy going on in the world, worldwide because of climate change, forest fires, and what's going on in the Amazon, which is really the lungs of the Earth, is vital to protecting us in the future," he said. "They've got to do a lot more. I think the president's got to do a lot more. We must protect this vital landscape."
9.When he returned to speak as a UN Messenger of Peace and called climate change "the defining crisis of our time."
Months after the Paris Agreement was signed, Leo spoke before delegates of the United Nations in 2016 about the status of our environment. He had been left "terrified" due to the pollution, deforestation, droughts, flooding, and disappearing glaciers he witnessed during his two-year expedition to learn more about climate change around the globe.
"All that I have seen and learned on my journey has absolutely terrified me," Leo said, per the United Nations. "There is no doubt in the world's scientific community that this is a direct result of human activity, and the effects of climate change will become astronomically worse in the future."
Utilizing renewable energy and implementing carbon pricing are some factors that are starting to help in fighting climate change, Leo stated. He then addressed UN delegates directly with words encouraging the group of leaders to confront climate change head-on.
"Now is the time for bold, unprecedented action," Leo said. "My friends, look at the delegates around you. It is time to ask each other, which side of history will you be on?"
10.When he brought up the reality of climate change and how it impacts disadvantaged communities in his 2016 Oscars acceptance speech.
"Climate change is real. It is happening right now," Leo said on stage after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Revenant.
"It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating," he added. "We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children's children and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed."
11.When he protested climate change policies by participating in the 2017 Climate March.
"Today’s #ClimateMarch leaves me inspired & hopeful for our future. We must continue to work together & fight for #climatejustice," Leo wrote on Twitter alongside photos from the march.
12.When he detailed how ocean pollution hurts our climate for the Our Ocean Conference at the US Department of State.
During the Our Ocean Conference, Leo opened up about his desire to become a marine biologist before he decided to pursue acting. He had a childhood "fascination with the ocean and its wildlife" that has continued into adulthood.
The celeb talked of harmful practices such as bottom trawling, which has proven to be devastating for the biodiversity of oceans, before telling the crowd how the state of marine life affects the climate on land.
"While we've heard a lot about the impacts of climate change on dry land, the oceans will be the sink that absorbs the brunt of our pollution and the danger of higher temperatures," Leo said. "This is especially troubling, since oceans are the source of most of our oxygen and life-giving nutrients on this planet. They dictate our climate, our weather patterns, and ultimately, our own survival."
13.When he promoted renewable energy sources and acknowledged the natural disasters that climate change causes.
At the 2015 Global Citizens Festival, Leo informed attendees that climate change had led to a surge in natural disasters over the course of the 2000s in comparison to past decades.
"The number of natural disasters between 2000 and 2009 was roughly three times greater than it had been in the 1980s," the actor said. "According to the Red Cross, the growth is almost entirely due to climate change."
Looking to the future, Leo advocated for the use of renewable energy in order to fulfill worldwide energy needs and aid underprivileged groups.
"Using existing renewable energy technologies, we can meet 100% of the world's energy demand by 2050," Leo said. "We could bring electricity to the world's poor and spare them the threat of a man-made catastrophe. All it takes is the will of all of us."
14.When he explained Don't Look Up's representation of skepticism toward science and the climate crisis.
When Leo was interviewed by Netflix for Don't Look Up in 2022, he described the film as a metaphor for our society's "inability to hear and listen to scientific truth." Both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, have demonstrated this mindset.
"We're already feeling the ramifications of the climate crisis, and the world is going to be a different place [in] years to come," Leo said. "When COVID hit, it became all the more resonant that there's a tremendous amount of doubt in modern-day science."
Leo revealed that, after learning about climate change over the past two decades from experts on the topic, he has seen many predictions made by climate scientists come true. One theme of Don't Look Up is pondering if people can join together to address climate change, which Leo called "ultimately the most important issue that's ever faced humanity in the history of civilization."
"The fact that emissions are still going up worldwide, and we're not making the changes necessary...we're seeing the ramifications of what scientists have been telling us for the last few decades," Leo said. "And it's almost happening to the exact year and date. ... It's not that we're not listening. We're just not taking the necessary action."
15.When he informed his social media followers about how the number of wildfires increases with climate change, resulting in a damaging cycle.
"Climate change has magnified extreme weather conditions like drought, higher temperatures, and stronger winds that cause and spread wildfires. When rainforests burn, they release vast quantities of CO2, which exacerbates climate change," Leo wrote on Instagram in June. "Ecosystem destruction is among the main drivers of this detrimental cycle, making the microclimate drier and wildlands more prone to fires that are hotter and spread faster."
The celebrity activist posted a series of photos explaining how climate change leads to a higher number of wildfires and what we can do to prevent wildfires from occurring. The solutions mentioned in the post were eating plant-based diets, as well as voting for politicians who are advocates of tackling climate change.
16.When he stated that the climate crisis is a "we" problem.
In a 2016 interview alongside The Revenant director Alejandro Iñárritu, Leo examined how scientific reports on climate change have historically been drowned out by the comments of other parties.
"We do know that the scientific community has been screaming out loud for decades, and other interests have stifled their voice and manipulated this conversation. And it's a real shame," Leo said on Charlie Rose.
In addition, he expressed how sparking real change and improving the climate breakdown begins with everyone joining forces and making collaborative efforts toward advancement.
"One thing I'm proud of, that for the first time, we've seen the world community take this issue seriously, and if they hadn't, there would be absolutely no hope," Leo said. "We can't wait another four years for people to start to listen to 99% of the scientific community. I mean, it's an absurdity. And it's not about the individual anymore. It's about we. It's about we, as a species, as a world community, finally coming together to make some sort of progress forward."
17.When he vocalized how our response to climate change will dictate the future during the Climate Summit for Local Leaders.
Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg hosted the Climate Summit for Local Leaders in December 2015, just before the Paris Agreement was signed. A group of mayors from around the globe were present at the gathering, and Leo stated that it was time to "finally address the very real threat that climate change poses to our planet" while delivering a speech to the attendees.
"Climate change is the most fundamental and existential threat to our species. The consequences are unthinkable and worse, it has the potential to make our planet unlivable," Leo said, per the New York Times. "Our future will hold greater prosperity and justice when we are free from the grip of fossil fuels. Now to get there, we must act. We must finally leave behind the inefficient technologies of another century and the business models that they have created."
