2. Leonardo delivers landmark speech at the United Nations climate summit
Leonardodelivers landmark speech at the United Nations climate summit On September 23, 2014 LeonardoDiCaprio addressed one of the largest gatherings of government, business andcivil society leaders in history, at the United Nations Climate Summit. UNSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Leonardo to serve as a United NationsMessenger of Peace for Climate, calling the actor a “new voice for climateadvocacy.” The Sunday, both both BanKi-moon and Leonardo participated in the 400,000-strong People’s Climate Marchthrough the streets of New York City, drawing renewed public attention to theescalating climate crisis. The speech garnered a record-breaking 1.6million views on the United Nations channel and was echoed in over 45,000 newsarticles across the globe. Below is the full text of the speech: Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, yourexcellencies, ladies and gentleman, and distinguished guests. I’m honored to behere today, I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen, oneof the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and thebillions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis. As an actor I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems. I believe mankind has looked at climatechange in that same way: as if it were a fiction, as if pretending that climatechange wasn’t real would somehow make it go away. But I think we know better than that. Everyweek , we’re seeing new and undeniable climateevents, evidence that accelerated climate changeis here right now. Droughts are intensifying, our oceans are acidifying, with methaneplumes rising up from the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events,and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice-sheetsmelting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead ofscientific projections. None of this isrhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. Itis fact. The scientific community knows it, industry knows it, governments knowit, even the United States military knows it. The Chief of the U.S. Navy’sPacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear,recently said that climate change is our single greatest security threat. My Friends, this body – perhaps more thanany other gathering in human history – now faces this difficult, but achievabletask. You can make history… or be vilified byit. To be clear, this is not about tellingpeople to change their light bulbs or buy a hybrid car. This disaster has grown BEYOND the choicesthat individuals make. This is now about our industries, and governments aroundthe world taking decisive, large-scale action. Now must be our moment for action. We need to put a pricetag on carbonemissions, and eliminate government subsidiesfor oil, coal and gas companies. We need to end the free ride that industrialpolluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy, they do notdeserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny.For the economy itself will die if our eco-systems collapse. The good news is that renewable energy isnot only achievable but good economic policy. This is not apartisan debate; it is a human one. Clean air and a livable climate areinalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question ofpolitics, it is a question of our own survival. This is the most urgent of times, and themost urgent of messages. Honored delegates, leaders of the world, Ipretend for a living. But you do not. The people made their voices heard onSunday around the world and the momentum willnot stop. But now it is YOUR turn, the time to answer humankind’s greatestchallenge is now. We beg of you to face it with courage. And honesty. Thank you.