A Study on The Impact of Leonardo Dicaprio's Foundation

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Leonardo DiCaprio is mostly known for being an outstanding and versatile actor yet he also expresses passion for environmental issues. During DiCaprio’s 2016 first ever Oscar “best actor” acceptance, he dedicated the core of his speech to the environment—more specifically to global warming. DiCaprio made a dramatic assertion to a room filled with powerful celebrities yet also to the average citizen via live national television. The context and the serious tone that DiCaprio uses to make people aware of these global warming issues was very effective for everyone watching.

Most people who think of Leonardo DiCaprio only think of him as an actor, from Titanic to The Revenant and every film in between that may come to mind, but this is not his only identity. DiCaprio created a foundation (Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation or LDF) in 1998 to support his passion and other large scale foundations for environmental protection. The main focuses of his foundation are to protect wildlife, save the oceans, restore wildlands, and empower communities (LDF, 2015). There are explanations of what each of these areas do to support those movements on the LDF website. According to the LDF website, $30 million has been awarded to 78 high-impact projects in more than 44 countries since 2010.

DiCaprio not only works through his own foundation but is also a board member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Natural Resources Defense Council, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, the funder’s collaborative Ocean 5, and International Fund for Animal Welfare. DiCaprio’s dedication doesn’t stop there though—he was recently designated as the United Nations Messenger of Peace for Climate Change and received the 2014 Clinton Global Citizen Award (LDF, 2015). DiCaprio actively tweets and conveys through other forms of social media regarding important environmental movements, and DiCaprio has more than enough followers and fans that take notice and action because of their inspiration from his leadership and passion. This is a background of DiCaprio’s ethos in environmental issues and his support of global warming that he participates in.

DiCaprio makes another great connection in his speech that adds to his ethos and was completely related to the award for his most recent movie The Revenant that he receives. DiCaprio describes that the award-winning film was about “man’s relationship with the natural world” and considering DiCaprio was the main actor in this movie gives him credibility even if you didn’t know about his involvement behind the movie screens.

The fact that DiCaprio is an actor may have helped his pathos in this speech, but that doesn’t take away from the depth behind his message to the world. DiCaprio keeps a very serious tone throughout his whole speech which shows people that he’s not joking around and he wants your attention to what he’s saying. DiCaprio makes bold statements like “climate change is real”, “it is happening now” and “it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species” that wake people up in a way. These bold statements capture people’s emotions to focus up and face reality. He goes on to recognize different types of people as he emphasizes, “we need to work collectively together…we need to support leaders around the world…who speak for all of humanity; for the indigenous people of the world, the billions and billions of underprivileged people 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…” (YouTube, 2016). DiCaprio appeals to quite a few major groups of people that either someone falls into the category of or can think of someone they know that does who are listening via television as an average citizen with no real power on their own. For these people, he is sparking their motivation because a big star like himself is giving them a shout out. For the audience he is speaking in front of, celebrities living luxuriously, he is almost making them feel guilty or feel bad for these groups of people he mentioned that don’t receive any recognition. In a way this might motivate the affluent crowd to give money.

Lastly, DiCaprio includes some facts in his speech that support his knowledge and his logos. He warns that 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history and the film crew had to travel to the southernmost tip of the world to find snow during the filming. These are factual claims that relate to both global warming and the movie he starred in and won the award for. According to NOAA (National Centers for Environmental Information), “The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for 2015 was the highest among all years since record keeping began in 1880. During the final month, the December combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was the highest on record for any month in the 136-year record” (NOAA, 2016). This proves that DiCaprio’s proclamation was indeed accurate and shocking.

Leonardo DiCaprio used ethos, pathos, and logos to appeal to the world with his global warning speech. With the time available he used his character and his knowledge to convince people to care. DiCaprio is a dedicated environmentalist who uses money he has to support this cause. He recognizes people at different stages in life and the people who are most affected by global warming. Finally, he makes fact-based statements that are a serious problem in the here and now. The way that DiCaprio uses his first ever Oscar for “best actor” to recognize a world problem with complete humility is what makes this speech so rhetorically brilliant.