Leonardo DiCaprio and His Movement to Bring More Attention to Climate Change

The world you know today may not be the world your children and grandchildren will get to live and experience. Throughout time color and life, itself begins to fade just by the simple fact that we don’t know how to take care of Earth. In the National Geographic documentary called “Before the flood” directed by the Academy Award winning filmmaker Fisher Stevens you will be able to learn the amount of information you will need to be able to believe that this is a real issue and not just a fantasy that the U.S government wants to cover up. In this film you will be able to travel around the world and explore the science behind global warming with the Oscar Award Winning, Leonardo DiCaprio as the United Nations Messenger of Peace. In the beginning of the documentary DiCaprio goes in this situation without knowing much and with people doubting him just because he is “just an actor” but throughout the film you are able to learn exactly what scientist are talking to him about and you are able to see real life footage of how climate change is affecting different continents around the world.

Humankind can be the most dangerous thing that has happened to this world due to the single fact that we create a mess and then cover our eyes when we see it affecting others one by one. A great example of this is the painting by Hieronymus Bosch called “The Garden of Earthly Delights”. DiCaprio mentions this painting in multiple occasions. In this painting you can see three different beautiful sides of a story; on the left side you are able to see the world before the madness that humans created, there’s Adam and Eve when the world was new and pure. In the middle you can see the crisis that is basically going on today, a crowded population of people that are using every inch of the land. In the right and final side, you are able to see darkness and death, meaning what may be the end of the world.

Seeing this made me realize that the world was one untouched and so beautiful and now we are slowly killing it just because we’re being careless. This film was such a beautiful and eye-opening documentary because if you went in to watch It without knowing a single thing then I’m sure you are able to end up with so much information that is able to persuade you to understand that this is a real life issue and not just a cover up. “We are the first generation to be able to end poverty, and the last generation that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Future generations will judge us harshly if we fail to uphold our moral and historical responsibilities.” Says the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. We are able to change for the better, it just takes for more people to be educated on this problem and understand that this is not a joke but a life or death situation.

In the early 2000’s, DiCaprio sat down with Former U.S Vice President, Al Gore and talked about the big problem that’s going on today; global warming. This was the first time that he had ever heard about this issue and he said, “I had no idea what he was talking about.”. If a famous actor such as DiCaprio didn’t know about this issue, then imagine how many of the people that walk by you in the daily basis don’t know about what’s going on. Everyone should be educated about this; it does not matter if you believe in it or not. .. you should at least be aware of what’s going on. Whether you like it or not, politics can be the reason why we cannot make a change. “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changing to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it.” Says Senator Marco Rubio. I’m not sure what he believes is the cause of this problem but if its not us, the humans, then who is doing this? Not the butterflies that’s for sure. I choose to believe that congress will always try to fight against scientist since they don’t want the people to be aware of what’s really happening. DiCaprio took the time to travel to across the globe to learn more about climate change and to see it for himself. He went to Canada, Greenland, Miami, China, India and many more places. If he could do it why can’t others do the same and see that the problem is bigger than what the really think It is.

We have known about global warming for ages now and sadly nobody took it seriously. Now, ice bergs are melting, the forest is catching on fire, and cities are soon to be Atlantis (underwater) just because if you ignore the problem it will go away right? Not in this case. China is the number one country in with the highest population and they are a mile run ahead of us with solving this problem. It might be a long and difficult run but its not impossible. This situation is only getting worst by the second and there’s still people around the world that don’t want to do anything about it.

If your house caught on fire, you would panic correct? Imagine what the animals are going through in this situation when they may have no clue of what’s going on. It’s time to panic and to work harder than ever to fix this problem because if we don’t then go look at the right side of the “The Garden of Earthly Delights” painting. I understand when people have doubts about a situation but that’s why you ask questions and educate yourself just like DiCaprio did. He went out to the world to find answers and to see them in real life. This documentary gives you more than enough information, in my opinion this one helped me understand more about climate change than the film “The Inconvenient Truth” just by the simple fact that there were more sources and real footage than just a presentation. Both are wonderful films but Before the Floor made me more aware of what’s really going on. We must think about the Earth like if it’s a real person, you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your child or you so why let this beautiful world that created life die?

There’s a million ways of a person could die and due to climate change million or people are dying because of it. I’m not sure what it has to take for people to wake up and realize that this is really happening right now, and it has already affected many individuals. If climate change was within us in the early 19th century then just imagine how much the graph has increased now that its multiple generations after. Its not too late to make a change, we must work to get rid of this problem as soon as possible. “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 said.