Leonardo DiCaprio raises $100 million to fight climate change

Authored by metro.co.uk and submitted by Amamazing
image for Leonardo DiCaprio raises $100 million to fight climate change

The actor has always been passionate about fighting climate change (Picture: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Leonardo DiCaprio has proved there’s nothing he can’t do by raising a whopping $100 million (£79 million) to fight climate change.

The Titanic actor, who founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to increase awareness about climate change, wrote in a statement: ‘When I founded LDF 20 years ago, I did so based on the simple idea that we could make a real difference by directly funding some of the most effective environmental projects.

‘Whether it be individuals, grassroots movements or major nonprofits, we wanted to focus on getting critical funding to those who could have the greatest impact.

‘We are extremely proud to celebrate 20 years of this model. Since 1998, we have supported over 200 projects on every continent and in every ocean from habitat and species conservation, renewable energy, climate change, indigenous rights, and more.

‘I am pleased to announce $11 million (£8.6 million) in new grants across our six program areas, bringing the total financial impact of LDF to over $100 million (£79 million).’

In 2016 he produced and starred in documentary Before The Flood, which focuses on the effects of climate change (Picture: Tibrina Hobson/WireImage)

Could we love him any more?

It’s safe to say Leo’s had his fair share of trouble with awards (we won’t mention the Oscar saga), and his track record for environmental awards isn’t much better, as he was slammed in 2016 for jetting off on a private jet to receive one.

A rep for DiCaprio told US Weekly: ‘He was asked to speak at both Riverkeeper and amfAR events, but the only way to attend the two fundraisers was to hitch a ride with flights that were already planned.

‘Leo helped both events raise millions, donated his own funds, auctioned off his house and had speaking roles in both programs.’

Despite the criticism, Leo’s stood firm in his efforts to address climate change, with it being the focus of his speech at the Oscars.

He pointed out: ‘Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species. We need to work together to stop procrastinating…Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted.’

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chaddjohnson on December 22nd, 2018 at 03:00 UTC »

This is a little off topic, but...

I just got back from a visit to Yiwu City in China. Lots of factories there, and tons of pollution. We visited the huge marketplace there which has literally 62,000 vendor booths. Sixty-two THOUSAND. Each of these is just a showroom for businesses (not end consumers) to buy goods in bulk. There are maybe five levels, and each level goes on for literally miles. It's absolutely insane.

Everything you can possibly think of was there, for sale. Party goods, bicycles, clothing, ceramics, office supplies, paintings, hunting supplies, yoga stuff, inflatable rafts...EVERYTHING.

This place supplies the world with stuff. Alibaba was built around this place.

All this shit will end up in a landfill. And manufacturing this stuff causes so much pollution.

Mass consumerism is kind of disgusting. THIS is surely helping to fuck up our planet.

JGood004 on December 22nd, 2018 at 02:55 UTC »

Man..I’m relatively conservative but this is one of the things i just don’t get. This issue shouldn’t really be partisan. I feel like everyone would be able to get behind striving towards a greener, healthier planet.

iGiveWomenOrgasms_jk on December 22nd, 2018 at 02:38 UTC »

Just for the sake of information:

From the article he announced $11 million in new grants.

The $100 million is the overall amount raised by his foundation, LDF, since 1998.

That's still a huge accomplishment. And we shouldn't rely on celebrities and rich people to do all the fundraising/work. We all need to do whatever little things we can to help.