DiCaprio appeals for action on climate change

Actor tells world leaders “you can make history … or be vilified by it”

Leonardo DiCaprio called on world leaders to act on climate change in a speech at the UN Climate Summit in New York today.

“I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen” said the five-time Oscar nominee who, along with 400,000 other protesters  had recently marched in New York waving flags, and carrying signs reading “No More Climate Change” and “Climate Action Now,”.

“As an actor I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems. 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. But I think we know better than that".

DiCaprio said that the effects of climate change are already being felt. “Every week, we’re seeing new and undeniable climate events”.

Quoting the chief of the US navy’s Pacific command, admiral Samuel Locklear, who recently described climate change as “our single greatest security threat” the actor said that now is the moment for action and reminded the attendees that history will not remember them kindly if they do not act.

“You can make history … or be vilified by it”.