It was a long time coming for Leo DiCaprio to win his first Oscar. All of the jokes that were made about him not receiving an Academy Award were finally put to rest. But, when the time came for him for make his speech about his 2016 win for "Best Actor" in the movie The Revenant, no one expected him to come up with something this good.
“Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. 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 said at the 2016 Academy Awards.
He used his spotlight to preach about the issues in the real world rather than dwell on the fact that his award was completely delayed in relation to his fame and success within the film industry. Instead, he focused on climate change.
This speech and mention of the Earth deterioration was and still is completely relevant and necessary. It is people like Leo who need to speak up and can use their voice to reach the masses. 2015 was the hottest year recorded in history, making these climate change issues evident right before our eyes. We choose to live by "ignorance is bliss," in a place that needs our help now.
“We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would 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. I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted," he added.
In a time where our political decisions and votes matter, let us sit back and realize how we got here to begin with. We can not even think about having a leader to solve our problems who does not focus on the main issue at hand. For we will have no problems to worry about when we completely destroy this beautiful planet of our own. Leo was able to experience this heat change first hand when the crew and production of The Revenant had to travel to the tip of the planet to be able to reach enough snow to film with. It is time now, to listen to these people speaking up. If we won't listen to environmentalists, maybe people will abide to actors they look up to. We should not ignore these issues at hand because the fact is, it has gotten to the point where an award winning actor has to cry for help before we realize that there is a problem after all.
It is not time to forget about his outstanding speech and it is not time to forget how lucky we are to be on this Earth. We are all here for a reason and maybe it was just the right time for him to win this award. Because if someone else were to win, who would have said what needed to be said?
So thank you Leo, for using your time of fame, to open the eyes of the blind and to rise above those who are choosing to be ignorant.
