Not only is Leonardo DiCaprio a legendary actor, but he has been making huge impacts in environmental activism.
His interest in wildlife and nature started as a child and evolved early in his acting career. DiCaprio did not become a public environmental activist until the late 1990s, after the success of Titanic. At just 24 years old, he launched his environmental foundation, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, in 1998. In 2021, it re-launched and is now part of Re:wild, combining its legacy with the conservation organization Global Wildlife Conservation.
In addition, the Oscar-winning actor has joined the boards of major conservation and animal welfare groups, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). He has donated and helped raise over $100 million for wildlife protection (such as saving tigers in Nepal and elephants in Africa).
“I was lucky and got to have a meeting with Al Gore in the White House,” DiCaprio told Wired in 2015. “He pulled out a chalkboard and drew planet Earth and drew our atmosphere around it. And he says, ‘If you want to get involved in environmental issues, this is something not a lot of people are talking about… but climate change is the single greatest threat to humanity that we’ve ever had.'”
Leonardo DiCaprio in the crowd on day three of the Laver Cup at The O2, London.Adam Davy - PA Images / Getty Images
Back in 2021, when Re:wild was being established, it was announced that DiCaprio pledged $43 million to ecological restoration efforts on the Galápagos Islands. The islands are a volcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean located about 620 miles west of mainland Ecuador. The archipelago consists of 13 major islands, 6 smaller islands, and over 100 islets and rocks, formed by ongoing volcanic activity, and are famous for unique animals found nowhere else on Earth, including giant Galápagos tortoises, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, flightless cormorants and their very own Galápagos penguins.
“When I traveled to the Galápagos Islands, I met with Paula Castaño and other environmental heroes in Ecuador working day in and day out to save one of the most irreplaceable places on the planet,” DiCaprio said. “The environmental heroes that the planet needs are already here. Now we all must rise to the challenge and join them.”
The $43 million went towards a variety of conservation projects, including the restoration of Floreana Island, creating a breeding program for pink iguanas and strengthening conservation measures to protect the Galápagos from tourism. The project will also reintroduce 13 locally extinct species — including the Floreana mockingbird, which was first discovered by English naturalist Charles Darwin.
Leonardo DiCaprio attends day three of COP26 on November 02, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.Ian Forsyth / Getty Images
Today, DiCaprio is still continuing his work in film production and environmental activism. Through his production company, Appian Way Productions, he is attached as a producer to several upcoming films in pre-production and post-production, including Finding Oz, What Happens at Night, an untitled Volkswagen project, an untitled Jane Goodall movie and an untitled Hawaii-set crime drama.
As for his environmental and animal activism efforts, the One Battle After Another actor praised the launch of the Coalition of Action to Recover Endangered Species (CARES) two weeks ago at the COP17 Leaders’ Summit in Yerevan, Armenia.
“We are running out of time and it is now incumbent upon all of us, all of you, activists, young and old, to please get involved,” DiCaprio said at Global Citizen Festival in 2015. “Because the environment and the fight for the world’s poor are inherently linked.”
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