Leonardo DiCaprio may be banned from Indonesia for caring too much about the environment.
According to an article from BBC, an Indonesian immigration official said that poor Leo may be blacklisted from going back to the country after he visited Mount Leuser National Park and commented on the negative environmental effects of the palm oil industry.
In an act of pure courageous gusto, DiCaprio posted several images to Instagram, promoting the dangers faced by biodiversity in areas where palm oil planting replaces otherwise precious habitats for endangered animals, such as the sumatran tiger:
As the forest of the #Indonesian #LeuserEcosystem continues to be cleared to meet demand for Palm Oil, the critically endangered Sumatran #orangutan is being pushed to the brink of extinction. Here, at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme’s Orangutan Quarantine Center, rescued orangutans are rehabilitated so they can be released back into the wild. If we don't stop this rampant destruction, the Leuser Ecosystem and the Sumatran orangutans that call it home could be lost forever. Click the link in the bio to support this important work. #Indonesia
A photo posted by Leonardo DiCaprio (@leonardodicaprio) on
Understandably, palm oil is pretty important. It's in more than half of the packaged products in the United States. It's also used for cooking and, less commonly, as a small-scale alternative to fossil fuels.
Oh and Indonesia produced about 33 million metric tons of the stuff in 2014. That's about two metric tons for every follower DiCaprio has on Twitter, so it's totally reasonable that Indonesia is concerned about DiCaprio singlehandedly undermining a major industry that is increasingly driven by globally rising demands and high yields.
Indonesia is understandably upset about DiCaprio's efforts — he is just begging to get in the way of rampant destruction of a lush ecosystem that's home to rare animals.
To really understand why they've got their panties in a wad, let's look at a loose and unrealistic metaphor:
Imagine that you run a trash factory. Every day you make trash and put it out on the sidewalk for people to see. This trash is important to you, and each piece of trash you put on the sidewalk can sit and produce more trash for up to 30 years. Imagine now, that Leonardo DiCaprio read about your factory and the sidewalk that was rapidly filling with trash. So he visits your trash factory and says, "Wow, this is a lot of trash. Maybe someone should clean up this trash, because it's hard to walk on this trash sidewalk, and people are having a hard time getting to work. Plus, it's impossible to breathe because all of it smells just horrific."
Now say that the trash factory is Indonesia, the trash is the palm oil trees and the smell is the palm industry's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (mainly through burning that biodiverse rainforest we talked about earlier). In their eyes, DiCaprio wants to be the only smoking hot thing in Indonesia, and he will singlehandedly extinguish every rainforest-clearing fire to claim that title. He's a real threat.
Plus there's the fact that DiCaprio's recent social media campaign to save the Leuser ecosystem is essentially calling for the opposite of everything that Indonesia's palm oil industry is doing and what it has done for the past several years.
A world-class biodiversity hotspot, the #Indonesian Leuser Ecosystem is one of the most important areas of intact #rainforest left in Southeast Asia. Its forests are home to the densest remaining populations of the critically endangered Sumatran #orangutan. But Palm Oil expansion is destroying this unique place. Now is the time to save the Leuser Ecosystem. We must develop a permanent solution to protect and restore this valuable natural asset. Click the link in the bio to stand up and #SaveLeuserEcosystem. #Indonesia
A photo posted by Leonardo DiCaprio (@leonardodicaprio) on
DiCaprio's dashing looks and environmentally conscious heart make him an instantaneous danger to the palm oil industry. One sultry glare, the whole thing will come crashing down. As such, banning him from entering the country is definitely the most effective thing Indonesia can do to protect their livelihood. It's best for everyone. Sustainable palm agriculture isn't all it's worked up to be anyway.
So here's a big old round of applause to Indonesia for using deportation to take care of their Leonardo DiCaprio infestation — even though he had already left the country by the time they announced it.
It's sure to serve as an example of effective government action against rabble-rousing, patchouli-wearing hippies and their social media campaigns that could otherwise ruin a chief export. High fives all around!
