Leonardo DiCaprio talks climate change in acceptance speech

stacey

February 29, 2016 12:46 PM

Leonardo DiCaprio spoke out on climate change inaction as he accepted his Oscar. It was the first time he won after being nominated six times over the past 23 years.

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For the first time in his career, Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar, and he used that opportunity to speak out on climate change.

He won the Oscar for best actor in a leading role for The Revenant at the 88th awards. In his acceptance speech he called for collective work on climate change and a halt to procrastinating over it.

“Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world. A world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. 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,” DiCaprio urged.

“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,” he said.

He ended his speech by stating “let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted.”

DiCaprio has been nominated six times for an Oscar, first in 1993 as best supporting actor for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, then in 2005 for the Aviator and in 2007 for Blood Diamond both as best actor in a leading role. In 2014 he missed out on Best Picture (as a producer) for The Wolf of Wall Street, as well as best actor, but finally got his award this year.

Meanwhile Alejandro G. Inarritu won best director for the The Revenant and the film also won best cinematography.

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stacey