In 2019, Variety announced that the LDF was merging with Emerson Collective and Global Wildlife Conservation to form Earth Alliance, a new nonprofit dedicated to preserving biodiversity and tackling climate change. “I was lucky and got to have a meeting with Al Gore in the White House. 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… ’ — remember, this was 17, 18 years ago — ’ …but climate change is the single greatest threat to humanity that we’ve ever had,’” Leo said. “That put me on this path. We did Earth Day in 1999. I started a foundation. I started speaking out about the issue. And then, of course, Gore’s film came out [An Inconvenient Truth], and I think that affected everyone in a profound way,” he added. “Every week, we’re seeing new and undeniable climate events, evidence that accelerated climate change is here right now,” Leo said. “Droughts are intensifying, our oceans are acidifying with methane plumes rising up from the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections.” The Don’t Look Up star also stated that, in regard to climate change, “none of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact.” He then urged the government to halt granting tax subsidies to companies that contribute to practices that are harmful to the climate. “We need to put a price tag on carbon emissions and eliminate government subsidies for oil, coal, and gas companies,” Leo said. “We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy. They do not deserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny. For the economy itself will die if our ecosystems collapse.” “Last Friday, young people led the world in strike. Millions of brave individuals did more than simply walk out of their schools and places of employment. They took a stand,” Leo said. “They set an example of true leadership that we so desperately need right now. These young people have said clearly, definitively, and without fear, that the time for inaction is now over.” Leo mentioned those who reacted to the strike “with insulting tweets and negative talking points” and reinforced to the audience that climate change has reached the most critical point it’s ever been at. “Yet, surprisingly, some have reacted to this movement with insulting tweets and negative talking points — individuals that seem to care more about profit and their own self-interests than about your future. But we know that the climate youth movement is more important and crucial than at any time in human history,” Leo said. “And to turn this around, this movement needs all of our support to become even stronger and be even more impactful.” Leo discussed how carbon emissions have resulted in oceans absorbing so much CO2 that “we’re actually not even seeing on land the ramifications.” Compared to other countries throughout the globe, the actor explained, the United States is behind in trusting the scientific validity of climate change. “You go to anywhere else in the world, there is no argument about climate change. … People accept it as a fact,” he said. “This is the only country in the world where we have a political party that argues what is now, basically, scientific fact. I mean, it’s like arguing whether gravity exists or not.” “I think there’s a worldwide sense of anxiety about the fact that the powers that be, the private sector, governments, are not making the transition fast enough,” Leo said to Deadline in 2022. “We literally have a nine-year window.” He elaborated on this time frame and stated that starting a conversation among the viewers of Don’t Look Up is one reason why the project “is so important” for audiences. “When we reach a threshold where the thawing of the ice and the tundra and Greenland and the arctic starts to release even more carbon … we’re already seeing it happen,” Leo said as to what we can expect at the end of this nine-year timeline without action being taken. “That’s why this movie is so important. It is really the question of what the media prioritizes.” “It’s really a conversation about the urgency of taking action on climate change. We go from India, to China, to the Arctic, to the South Pole … to Indonesia,” Leo said. “And we traveled all over the world to try to tell specific stories about how climate change is affecting us today and how much we need to take action immediately.” “This moment is more important than ever,” Leo said, per NBC News. “We must empower leaders who not only believe in climate change but are willing to do something about it. The scientific consensus is in, and the argument is now over. If you do not believe in climate change, you do not believe in facts or in science or empirical truths, and therefore, in my humble opinion, should not be allowed to hold public office.” “All that I have seen and learned on my journey has absolutely terrified me,” Leo said, per the United Nations. “There is no doubt in the world’s scientific community that this is a direct result of human activity, and the effects of climate change will become astronomically worse in the future.” Utilizing renewable energy and implementing carbon pricing are some factors that are starting to help in fighting climate change, Leo stated. He then addressed UN delegates directly with words encouraging the group of leaders to confront climate change head-on. “Now is the time for bold, unprecedented action,” Leo said. “My friends, look at the delegates around you. It is time to ask each other, which side of history will you be on?” “It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating,” he added. “We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children’s children and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.” The celeb talked of harmful practices such as bottom trawling, which has proven to be devastating for the biodiversity of oceans, before telling the crowd how the state of marine life affects the climate on land. “While we’ve heard a lot about the impacts of climate change on dry land, the oceans will be the sink that absorbs the brunt of our pollution and the danger of higher temperatures,” Leo said. “This is especially troubling, since oceans are the source of most of our oxygen and life-giving nutrients on this planet. They dictate our climate, our weather patterns, and ultimately, our own survival.” “The number of natural disasters between 2000 and 2009 was roughly three times greater than it had been in the 1980s,” the actor said. “According to the Red Cross, the growth is almost entirely due to climate change.” Looking to the future, Leo advocated for the use of renewable energy in order to fulfill worldwide energy needs and aid underprivileged groups. “Using existing renewable energy technologies, we can meet 100% of the world’s energy demand by 2050,” Leo said. “We could bring electricity to the world’s poor and spare them the threat of a man-made catastrophe. All it takes is the will of all of us.” “We’re already feeling the ramifications of the climate crisis, and the world is going to be a different place [in] years to come,” Leo said. “When COVID hit, it became all the more resonant that there’s a tremendous amount of doubt in modern-day science.” Leo revealed that, after learning about climate change over the past two decades from experts on the topic, he has seen many predictions made by climate scientists come true. One theme of Don’t Look Up is pondering if people can join together to address climate change, which Leo called “ultimately the most important issue that’s ever faced humanity in the history of civilization.” “The fact that emissions are still going up worldwide, and we’re not making the changes necessary…we’re seeing the ramifications of what scientists have been telling us for the last few decades,” Leo said. “And it’s almost happening to the exact year and date. … It’s not that we’re not listening. We’re just not taking the necessary action.” The celebrity activist posted a series of photos explaining how climate change leads to a higher number of wildfires and what we can do to prevent wildfires from occurring. The solutions mentioned in the post were eating plant-based diets, as well as voting for politicians who are advocates of tackling climate change. “We do know that the scientific community has been screaming out loud for decades, and other interests have stifled their voice and manipulated this conversation. And it’s a real shame,” Leo said on Charlie Rose. In addition, he expressed how sparking real change and improving the climate breakdown begins with everyone joining forces and making collaborative efforts toward advancement. “One thing I’m proud of, that for the first time, we’ve seen the world community take this issue seriously, and if they hadn’t, there would be absolutely no hope,” Leo said. “We can’t wait another four years for people to start to listen to 99% of the scientific community. I mean, it’s an absurdity. And it’s not about the individual anymore. It’s about we. It’s about we, as a species, as a world community, finally coming together to make some sort of progress forward.” “Climate change is the most fundamental and existential threat to our species. The consequences are unthinkable and worse, it has the potential to make our planet unlivable,” Leo said, per the New York Times. “Our future will hold greater prosperity and justice when we are free from the grip of fossil fuels. Now to get there, we must act. We must finally leave behind the inefficient technologies of another century and the business models that they have created.”
