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DiCaprio to polluters: go green now
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-05-21 09:14
Leonardo DiCaprio arrives for a gala screening of 'The 11th Hour' at the
60th Cannes Film Festival May 19, 2007. [AP]
Hollywood star and long-time environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio has
a message for the world: go green now, before it's too late.
As DiCaprio tells it in film documentary "The 11th Hour," launched on
Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival, people are living in the last
minutes of the final hour before it may be too late to do anything about
global warming.
"Global warming is a reality. It is happening," DiCaprio told reporters
gathered for the movie's debut.
Last year "An Inconvenient Truth" explored the same environmental issue
by telling of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's long and lonely
campaign to educate people and politicians about the environmental issue.
"An Inconvenient Truth" became a global box office hit with about $50
million in worldwide ticket sales -- a huge sum for a non-fiction film --
and it also won an Oscar.
DiCaprio credits the movie for raising popular culture's concern about
the issue, and said films often have a greater impact than scientific
speeches or research papers because regular people actually watch, listen
and learn in cinemas.
"In the last year, people are taking this issue more seriously than they
ever have, and it's a direct result of affecting people's emotions in a
cinematic format," he said.
David Orr, the chair of environmental studies at U.S. university Oberlin
College put it differently: "Sooner or later, it is film, music or poetry
that move people. It's a necessary step in forming political discussion."
DARK BUT HOPEFUL
Unlike "An Inconvenient Truth" which focused in large part on Gore, "11th
Hour," takes a scholarly look at the causes of the problem -- which some
political leaders and scientists deny exists -- and what people can do to
stop it.
The roughly 90-minute movie, which was produced and narrated by DiCaprio
and directed by sisters Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, is both
scary and hopeful.
Acting much like a guide for audiences, DiCaprio poses questions everyday
people might ask. Then, well known scientists including Stephen Hawking
provide answers.
"I wanted to give (the scientific believers) a way of not being
challenged about whether the science is correct or whether their were
opinions were valid," DiCaprio said.
"It was about them being able to express ideas and being able to give us,
the public, solutions for the future."
The scientists warn that the ultimate end point of extreme climate change
is human extinction, but they also give examples of what can be done to
stop it, from simply changing light bulbs to electing "green" leaders or
buying "green" products.
DiCaprio and the directors said they tried to stay away from partisan
politics because the global warming affects all people, regardless of
being liberal or conservative.
But "The 11th Hour" does aim squarely at the United States and its
industries.
"We are the largest superpower in the world. We're are also the largest
polluters," DiCaprio said.
"It's ultimately us as the largest democracy in the world to be the ones
to set an example ... if we don't do it, how is the rest of the world
supposed to follow?"
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