Millions of people see DiCaprio's speech on climate change
29.09.2014
Leonardo DiCaprio at the World Climate Summit in New York: "Climate change is a fact" (Photo: dpa)
The commotion about Emma Watson's speech to the UN on equality of men and women has not even died down yet, and the next speech before the United Nations is already going viral. More than 1,350,000 people have already seen Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio's speech at the World Climate Summit in New York.
In his speech, DiCaprio did not claim to be an expert, but rather one of 400,000 concerned citizens who demonstrated for better climate protection in New York a few days ago.
"As an actor, I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters, often solving fictitious problems," DiCaprio said. "I believe humankind has looked at climate change in that same way: as if it were a fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending that climate change wasn't real would somehow make it go away."
Unfortunately, this will not work: Climate change is a fact. "The scientific community knows it, industry and governments know it, even the United States military knows it," DiCaprio said. High-ranking military officials recently said climate change is currently the biggest threat to the national security of the United States.
DiCaprio emphasised that it is no longer enough to get people to change their light bulbs or to buy hybrid cars. Governments and industry must now take decisive, large-scale action.
Jan Gesthuizen
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