NAGLAAN ng maraming taon si Leonardo DiCaprio sa pagpapalawak ng kamalayan at pagpondo sa kampanya laban sa global waming – at ngayon ay ibinahagi naman niya kung saan nanggaling ang kanyang passion sa environmentalism.
“At a young age I was very saddened by species that had become extinct by the result of man made activity and so that led me on a long sort of journey to get me involved in environmental issues,” saad ng Oscar winner sa PEOPLE sa Toronto International Film Festival para i-promote ang kanyang bagong documentary na The Ivory Game.
Bagamat simula nang makipag-usap kay dating Vice President Al Gore, nakaramdam ng ibang lebel ng motibasyon si DiCaprio. “It was really a meeting that I had with Al Gore in the white house in my early 20s,” aniya.
“He sat me down, drew a picture of the planet, drew our atmosphere and said, ‘This Is the most important crisis facing humanity’ and from that point on I really become not only fascinated with the issue but really concerned why we as a collective world community haven’t done enough about it.”
Sa pamamagitan ng documentary ni Gore na An Inconvenient Truth ay naipaalam ang panganib ng global warming sa milyun-milyong tao simula nang ilabas ito noong 2006. Itinatag ng star ng The Reverent ang Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation noong 1998, at hanggang ngayon ang organisasyon ay nakalikom na ng $60 million sa grant awards.
Magkakaroon ng international premiere ang The Ivory Game, na si DiCaprio ang executive producer, sa Toronto International Film Festival sa Sabado, mauuna sa paglabas nito sa Netflix. Inilalarawan sa festival website bilang “suspenseful on-the-ground documentary,” ikinukuwento ng The Ivory Game ang “wildlife activists and investigators (who) put their lives on the line to battle the illegal African ivory trade.” - People.com