Why We Should Be Paying Attention To Leo’s Oscar Acceptance Speech
Because winning an Oscar isn't the only thing that Leo is known for
Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard that Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar on Sunday night. What you may not have heard though, was his impassioned Oscar acceptance speech about our desperate need to acknowledge the very real effects of climate change. Our boy Leo, whose acting chops and dazzling good looks are not the only great thing about him, has been an outspoken advocate for protecting the environment and its fragile ecosystems. He actively heads and supports a variety of environmental organizations worldwide. Sure, the speech was littered with a special list of thanks and an endearing shout out to the film that he so much invested himself into, but the call to our procrastination as humanity towards doing something about climate change is a timely sentiment that we need to pay attention to.
We know that climate change is not a hoax. Any person that has any semblance of an awareness knows that it is something well worth acknowledging. Yet, as a collective group of people, we don’t seem ready yet to make the sacrifices necessary to mediate it. We’ve heard of what can happen, how it can mold and shape our earth permanently, yet we feel far too removed from these dire consequences to take action to prevent them.
As Leo echoes, this past year has been one of the hottest on record. Climate change can be a natural cycle. It can have a variety of natural causes. Yet the accelerated rate that it has proceeded in the past years is due to the overwhelming human impact. Human induced activities have placed our earth under threats of a warming that will vastly change our geography, give rise to our sea levels, intensify extreme natural events, and ruin our world’s habitats. According to NASA, the average global temperature has risen by more than 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880. Even a single degree of a difference in temperature can have vast changes on our environment, including a reduction in crop yields, heavy precipitation events, and increased risk of damaging natural weather events. Rising sea levels can result in destructive and frequent coastal storms and steadily result in a reshaping of our natural landscapes.
It's unfortunate that it takes a celebrity’s voice to make us stop and consider these important issues, but being reminded of such a hot (literally) topic in today’s society is sometimes just what we need. As Leo eloquently puts, “Climate change is real and it is happening now and it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species. We need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”
Thank you, you beautiful man, for reminding us to not take our earth for granted.
Become a Community Contributor.
