The 41 year old actor Leonardo DiCaprio has been in 37 feature films to date and has been nominated for and/or won a total of 206 awards. "The Revenant," which came out on January 8th, is anticipated to finally bring DiCaprio an Oscar for his amazing performance. He is well known for his roles in "The Wolf of Wall Street," "The Great Gatsby," and "Titanic," among many others. There is no doubt he is great at his job. Along with being a great actor, Leonardo is also a passionate environmentalist.
To start off, he has his own organization called The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. The foundation teams up with other organizations that all focus on protecting and bettering the planet’s well being. On the website, it states that the Foundation is “dedicated to the long-term health and wellbeing of all Earth’s inhabitants.” I’ve followed Leonardo on Twitter and liked him on Facebook for as long as I’ve had the social media. He has always posted petitions, articles, and stats on everything from climate change to endangered animals. I would have never known about some of issues if it had not been for Leo, and I’m sure I am not alone. He is certainly putting his fame to good use.
From hosting Earth Day events and speaking at international summits to projects such as writing and producing environmental documentaries, he is committed to making the world a better place. DiCaprio has held board positions with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the World Wildlife Fund, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. As of 2016, he has supported 20 charities and foundations covering 17 different causes. Just this year, DiCaprio raised $40 million for his foundation, partly by auctioning some of his own belongings — that brought in $2 million alone.
Leonardo’s most recent appearance was at the Mayor summit in Paris in December. Mayor Bloomberg invited him to speak at the summit about what changes the leaders across the world need to make in order to secure the future of the planet. DiCaprio expressed the pressing issues that the use of fossil fuels especially, are causing the planet. He pointed out the rapid melting rates of ancient glaciers, the floods that are sweeping through Asia, and the overall temperature rise with 2015 being the hottest year in history. Overall he asked for immediate action toward 100 percent clean energy use for all major cities around the world.
You don’t have to be a successful actor like Leonardo to help save the environment. Simple acts of support like signing a petition to stop poachers in Africa or sharing information about harmful effects of CO2 emissions on the environment helps. Awareness is the first step. I’m sure Leonardo isn’t doing all this work just for us to praise him for it and sit back and watch. He is a role model on how we should all get involved. We should be passionate about protecting the earth, even if we can’t donate millions of dollars to saving it.
